"IV 


il 
*■ 


FRINpJETON,  N.  J. 

No.  Case,         /^^ 

.  No.  Shelf,^_^'''-''' 
No.  Book,__^ 

The  John   IM.   Krelts  Donation 


54a  S 


''Jmm'.^^^•': 


■■:KA^M0SSailk(t^.  li^^d 


THE  WORLD  TO  COME; 


OR, 


DISCOURSES 


ON    THE 

JOYS  OR  SORROWS  OF  DEPARTED  SOULS 
AT  DEATH/ 

AKD   THE 

GLORY  OR  TERROR  OF  THE 
RESURRECTION. 

TO   WHICH   IS  PREFIXED, 

AN  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF  OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE  OF 
SOULS  AFTER  DEATH. 


By  I.  WATTS,  D.  D. 


FHOM   THE   FIFTH    ESfOilSH    EDITION. 


HAVERHILL : 

PRINTED    AND    PUBLISHED     BY    BURRILL    AND    TILESTON,    AND 

SOLD    AT    THEIR    BOOKSTORE. 

1816. 


PREFACE. 


AMOJ^G  all  the  solemn  and  important  things 
which  relate  to  religion,  there  is  nothing  that  strikes  the 
soul  of  man  with  so  much  awe  and  solemnity  as  the 
scenes  of  death,  and  the  dreadful  or  delightful  conse- 
quences which  attend  it.  Who  can  think  of  entering 
into  that  unknown  region  where  spirits  dwell,  without 
the  stongest  impressions  upon  the  mind  arising  from  so 
strange  a  manner  of  existence  P  Who  can  take  a  sur- 
vey of  the  resurrection  of  the  millions  of  the  dead,  and  of 
the  tribunal  of  Christ,  whence  men  and  angels  must 
receive  their  doom,  without  the  most  painful  solicitude, 
what  will  my  sentence  be  ?  Who  can  meditate  on  the 
intense  and  unmingled  pleasure  or  pain  in  the  world  to 
come,  without  the  most  pathetic  emotions  of  soul,  since 
each  of  us  must  be  determined  to  one  of  these  states,  and 
they  are  both  of  everlasting  duration  ? 

These  are  the  things  that  touch  the  springs  of  every 
passion  in  the  most  sensible  manner,  and  raise  our  hopes 
and  our  fears  to  their  supreme  exercise.  These  are 
the  subjects  with  which  our  blessed  Saviour  and  his 
apostles  frequently  entertained  their  hearei's,  in  order  to 
persuade  them  to  hearken  and  attend  to  the  divine  les- 
sons which  they  published  amongst  them.  These  were 
some  of  the  sharpest  weapons  of  their  holy  warfare, 
which  entered  into  the  inmost  vitals  of  mankind,  and 
pierced  their  consciences  with  the  highest  solicitude. 
These  have  been  the  happy  means  to  awaken  thousands 
of  sinners  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  to  allure 
and  hasten  them  to  enter  into  that  glorious  refuge  that  is 
set  before  them  in  the  gospel. 


^ 


IV  PREFACE. 

It  is  for  the  same  reason  that  1  have  selected  a  few 
discourses  on  these  ars^uments  out  of  my  public  minis- 
try, to  set  them  before  the  eyes  of  the  world  in  a  more 
iniblic  manner,  that  if  -possible  some  thoughtless  crea- 
tures might  be  roused  out  of  their  sinful  slumbers,  and 
might  awake  into  a  spiritual  and  eternal  life,  through 
the  concurring  influences  of  the  blessed  spirit. 

I  am  not  willing  to  disappoint  my  readers,  and  there- 
fore I  would  let  them  knoic  beforehand,  that  they  ivill 
find  very  little  in  this  book  to  gratify  their  curiosity  about 
the  many  questions  relating  to  the  invisible  world,  and 
the  things  ichich  God  has  not  jdainly  revealed.  Sorne- 
thing  of  this  kind  perhaps  may  be  found  in  two  discour- 
ses of  death  and  heaven,  which  I  published  long  ago  : 
hut  in  the  present  discourses  Ihave  very  much  neglected 
such  curious  enquiries.  JVor  will  the  ear  that  has  an 
itch  for  controversy  be  much  entertained  here,  for  I 
have  avoided  matters  of  doubtful  debate.  JSTor  need  the 
most  zealous  man  of  orthodoxy  fear  to  be  led  astray  into 
new  and  dangerous  sentiments,  if  he  will  but  take  the 
plainest  and  most  evident  dictates  of  scripture  for  his 
direction  into  all  truth. 

My  only  design  has  been  to  set  the  great  and  most 
mo7nentous  things  of  a  future  world  in  the  most  convinc- 
ing and  affecting  light,  and  to  enforce  them  upon  the 
conscience  with  all  the  fervor  that  such  subjects  demand 
and  require,  t^tnd  may  our  blessed  Iledeemer  who  reigns 
Lord  of  the  invisible  world,  pronounce  these  words  with 
a  divine  poiver  to  the  heart  of  every  man  who  shall 
either  read  or  hear  them. 

The  treatise  which  is  set  as  an  introduction  to  this  book, 
was  printed  several  years  ago  without  the  author's  name, 
and  there  in  a  short  preface  represented  to  the  reader 
these  few  reasons  of  its  ivriting  a7id  publication,  viz. 

The  principles  of  atheism  and  infidelity  have  pre- 
vailed so  far  upon  our  age^  as  to  break  in  upon  the 


PREFACE.  V 

sacred  fences  of  virtue  and  piety,  and  to  destroy  the 
noblest  and  most  effectual  springs  of  true  and  vital 
religion ;  /  mean  those  which  are  contained  in  the 
hlessed  gospel.  The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  and  the  consequent  states  of  heaven  and  hell,  is  a 
guard  and  motive  of  divine  force  ;  but  it  is  renounced  by 
the  enemies  of  our  holy  Christianity.  And  should  we 
give  up  the  recompences  of  separate  souls,  while  the 
deist  denies  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  I  fear  between 
both  we  should  sadly  enfeeble  and  expose  the  cause  of 
virtue,  and  leave  it  too  naked  and  defenceless.  The 
christian  would  have  but  one  persuasive  of  this  kind 
remaining,  and  the  deist  would  have  none  at  all. 

It  is  necessary  therefore  to  be  upon  our  guard  and  to 
establish  every  motive  that  ice  can  derive  either  from 
reason  or  scripture,  to  secure  religion  in  the  world. 
The  doctrine  of  the  state  of  separate  spirits,  and  the 
commencement  of  rewards  and  punishments  immediately 
after  death,  is  one  of  those  sacred  fences  of  virtue  which 
we  borrow  from  scripture,  and  it  is  highly  favored  by 
reason  ;  and  therefore  it  may  not  be  unseasonable  to  pub- 
lish such  arguments  as  may  tend  to  the  sujiport  of  it. 

In  this  edition  of  this  small  treatise,  I  have  added 
several  paragraphs  and  pages  to  defend  the  same  doc- 
trine ;  and  the  last  section  contains  an  answer  to  va- 
rious new  objections  which  I  had  not  met  with  when  I 
first  began  to  write  on  this  subject.  I  hope  it  is  set  upon 
such  a  firm  foundation  of  many  scriptures  as  cannot 
possibly  be  overturned ;  nor  do  I  think  it  a  very  easy 
matter  any  way  to  evade  the  force  of  them.  May  the 
grace  of  God  lead  us  on  further  into  every  truth  that 
tends  to  jnaintain  and  propagate  faith  and  holiness. 
Amen. 

J^ote — Where  these  Discourses  shall  be  used  as  a  religious  service  in 
private  ^families  on  Lord's  day  evenings,  each  of  them  will  afford  a  division 
near  the  middle,  kst,  ths  service  be  made  too  long  and  tiresome. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2011  witin  funding  from 

Princeton  Tiieoiogicai  Seminary  Library 


http://www.arcliive.org/details/worldtocomeordOOwatt 


CONTENTS. 

AN  Essay  toward  the  proof  of  a  separate  state 

of  souls, Page  9 

Section  I.  The  introduction  or  proposal  of  the 

question,  with  a  distinction  of  the  persons 

who  oppose  it, ib. 

Section  II.  Probable  arguments  for  the  separate 

state, 16 

Section  III.  Some  firmer  or  more  evident  proofs 

of  a  separate  state, 25 

Section  lY.  Objections  answered, 44 

Section  V.  More  objections  answered,      .     .     ,       61 

Discourses  on  the  world  to  come, 70 

Discourse  I.  The  end  of  time, lb. 

Discourse  II.    The  watchful  christian  dying  in 

peace, 95 

Discourse  III.  Surprise  in  death, 13S 

Discourse  IV.  Christ  admired  and  glorified   in 

his  saints,      .     .     .     * 148 

Discourse  V.  The  wrath  of  the  Lamb,  .  .  .  177 
Discourse  VI.  The  vain  refuge  of  sinners,  .  ,  193 
Discourse  VII.  No  night  in  heaven,  ....  310 
Discourse  VIII.  A  soul  prepared  for  heaven,  .  331 
Discourse  IX.  No  pain  among  the  blessed,  .  .  363 
Discourse  X.  The  first  fruits  of  the  spirit ;  or, 

the  foretaste  of  heaven, 306 

Discourse  XI.  Safety  in  the  grave,  and  joy  at 

the  resurrection, 334 

liiscourse  XII.  The  nature  of  the  punishments 

in  hell, 36S 

Discourse  XIII.    The  eternal   duration  of  the 

punishments  of  hell, 405 


AN  ESSAY 


TOWABS  THE 


PROOF  OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE  OF  SOULS 

BETWEEN  DEATH  AND  THE  RESURRECTION. 

SECTION  I. 

THE  INTRODUCTION  OR  PROPOSAL  OF  THE  QUESTION,  WITH  A 
DISTINCTION  OF  THE  PERSONS  WHO  OPPOSE  IT, 

IT  is  confessed  that  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  at  the  last  day,  and  the  everlasting 
Joys,  and  the  eternal  sorrows,  that  shall  succeed  it,  as 
they  are  described  in  the  New  Testament,  are  a  very 
awful  sanction  to  t!ie  gospel  of  Christ,  and  carry  in 
them  such  principles  of  hope  and  terror  as  should  ef- 
fectually discourage  vice  and  irreligion,  and  become  a 
powerful  attractive  to  the  practice  of  faith  and  love,  and 
universal  holiness. 

But  so  corrupt  and  perverse  are  the  inclinations  of 
men  in  this  fallen  and  degenerate  world :  and  their  pas- 
sions are  so  much  impressed  and  moved  by  things  that 
are  present  or  just  at  hand,  that  the  joys  of  heaven,  and 
the  sorrows  of  hell,  when  set  far  beyond  death  and  the 
grave,  at  some  vast  and  unknown  distance  of  time, 
would  have  but  too  little  influence  on  their  hearts  and 
lives.  And  though  these  solemn  and  important  events 
are  never  so  certain  in  themselves,  yet  being  looked 
upon  as  things  a  great  way  off,  make  too  feeble  an  im- 
pression on  the  conscience ;  and  tiieir  distance  is  much 


10  ESSAY    TOWARD    THE    PROOF 

abused  to  give  an  indulgence  to  present  sensualities. 
For  tliis  we  have  the  testimony  of  our  blessed  Saviour 
himself,  Matt.  xxiv.  48.  The  evil  servant  says,  my  Lord 
delays  his  coming  ;  then  he  begins  to  smite  his  fellow- 
servants,  and  to  eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken.  And 
Solomon  teaches  us  the  same  truth,  Eccles.  viii.  11.  Be- 
cause sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  nof  executed 
speedily,  therefore  the  heart  of  the  soris  of  men  is  fully 
set  in  them  to  do  evil.  And  even  the  good  servants  in 
this  imperfect  state,  the  sons  of  virtue  and  piety,  may 
be  too  much  allured  to  indulge  sinful  negligence,  and 
yield  to  temptations  too  easily  when  the  terrors  of 
another  world  are  set  so  far  oif,  and  their  hope  of  hap- 
piness is  delayed  so  long.  It  is  granted,  indeed,  that 
this  sort  of  reasoning  is  very  unjust ;  but  so  foolish  are 
our  natures,  that  we  are  too  ready  to  take  up  with  it, 
and  to  grow  more  remiss  in  the  cause  of  religion. 

Whereas,  if  it  can  be  made  to  appear  from  the  word 
of  Grod,  that,  at  the  moment  of  deatli,  the  soul  enters 
into  an  unchangeable  state,  according  to  its  cliaracter 
and  conduct  here  on  eartli,  and  that  the  recompences 
of  vice  and  virtue,  are,  in  some  measure,  to  begin  im- 
mediately upon  the  end  of  our  state  of  trial ;  and  if, 
besides  all  this,  there  be  a  glorious  and  a  dreadful  res- 
urrection to  be  expected,  with  eternal  pain  or  eternal 
pleasure  both  for  soul  and  body  ;  and  that  in  a  more 
intense  degree,  when  the  theatre  of  tliis  world  is  shut 
up,  and  Jesus  Christ  appears  to  pronounce  his  public 
judgment  on  tlie  world,  then  all  tliose  little  subterfuges 
are  precluded,  which  mankind  would  form  to  themselves 
from  the  unknown  distance  of  the  day  of  recom pence. 
Virtue  will  liave  a  nearer  and  stronger  guard  placed 
about  it,  and  piety  will  be  attended  with  superior  mo- 
tives, if  its  initial  rewards  are  near  at  hand,  and  shall 
commence  as  soon  as  this  life  expires ;  and  the  vicious 
and  profane  will  be  more  effectually  affrighted,  if  the. 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  11 

hour  of  death  must  immediately  consign  tliem  to  a  state 
of  perpetual  sorrows  and  bitter  anguish  of  conscience, 
without  hope,  and  with  a  fearful  expectation  of  yet 
§;reater  sorrows  and  anguish. 

I  know  what  the  opposers  of  the  separate  state  reply 
here;,  viz.  That  the  whole  time  from  death  to  the  res- 
urrection, is  but  as  the  sleep  of  a  night  ;  and  the  dead 
shall  awake  out  of  their  graves,  utterly  ignorant  and 
insensible  of  the  long  distance  of  time  that  hath  past 
since  their  death.  One  year,  or  one  thousand  years 
will  be  the  same  thing  to  them ;  and,  therefore,  they 
should  be  as  careful  to  prepare  for  the  day  of  judgment, 
and  tlie  rewards  that  attend  it,  as  tliey  are  for  their  en- 
trance into  the  separate  state  at  death,  if  there  were  any 
such  state  to  receive  them. 

I  grant,  men  should  be  so  in  reason  and  justice  : 
but  such  is  the  weakness  and  folly  of  our  natures,  that 
men  will  not  be  so  much  influenced  nor  alarmed  by 
distant  prospects,  nor  so  solicitous  to  prepare  for  an 
event  which  they  suppose  to  be  so  very  far  off,  as  they 
would  for  the  same  event,  if  it  commences  as  soon  as 
ever  this  mortal  life  expires.  The  vicious  man  will 
indulge  his  sensualities,  and  lie  down  to  sleep  in  death 
with  this  comfort,  I  shall  take  my  rest  here  for  a  hun- 
dred or  a  thousand  years,  and  jperhaps  in  all  that  space, 
my  offences  may  he  forgotten,  or  something  may  hap- 
pen that  I  may  escape  ;  or,  Let  the  worst  come  that  can 
come,  I  shall  have  a  long  sweet  nap  before  my  sorrows 
begin.  Thus  the  force  of  divine  terrors  are  greatly 
enervated  by  this  delay  of  punishment. 

I  will  not  undertake  to  determine,  when  the  soul  is 
dismissed  from  the  body,  whether  there  be  any  explicit 
divine  sentence  passed  concerning  its  eternal  state  of 
happiness  or  misery,  according  to  its  works  in  this  life  ; 
or  wiiether  the  pain  or  pleasure  that  belongs  to  the  sep- 
arate state,  be  not  chiefly  such  as  arises  by  natural  con- 


IS  ESSAY   TOWARD   THE   PROOF 

sequence  from  a  life  of  sin  or  a  life  of  holiness,  and  as 
being  under  the  power  of  an  approving  or  a  condemn- 
ing conscience  :  but,  it  seems  to  me  more  probable, 
that  since  the  spirit  returns  to  God  that  gave  it ;  to 
God  the  Judge  of  all,  with  whom  the  spirits  of  the  just 
made  perfect  dwell ;  and,  since  the  spirit  of  a  christian, 
when  absent  from  the  body,  is  presew  with  the  Lord, 
i.  e.  Christ.  I  am  more  inclined  to  think  that  there  is 
some  sort  of  judicial  determination  of  this  important 
point,  either  by  God  himself,  or  by  Jesus  Christ,  into 
whose  hands  he  has  committed  all  judgment.  Heb.  ix. 
S7«  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die.,  hut  after  this 
the  judgment.  Whether  iramedijite  or  more  distant,  is 
not  here  expressly  declared,  though  the  immediate  con- 
nexion of  the  words  hardly  gives  room  for  seventeen 
hundred  years  to  intervene.  But,  if  the  solemn  formal- 
ities of  a  judgment  be  delayed,  yet  the  conscience  of  a 
separate  spirit,  reflecting  on  a  holy  or  a  sinful  life,  is 
sufficient  to  begin  a  heaven  or  a  hell  immediately  after 
death. 

Amongst  those  who  delay  the  season  of  recompence 
till  the  resurrection,  there  are  some  who  suppose  the 
soul  to  exist  still  as  a  distinct  being  from  the  body,  but 
to  pass  the  whole  interval  of  time  in  a  state  of  stupor  or 
sleep,  being  altogether  unconscious  and  unactive. 
Others  again  imagine,  that  the  soul  itself  has  not  a  suf- 
ficient distinction  from  the  body  to  give  it  any  proper 
existence  when  the  body  dies  ;  but  that  its  existence 
shall  be  renewed  at  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and 
then  be  made  the  subject  of  joy  or  pain,  according  to  its 
behavior  in  this  mortal  state. 

I  think  there  might  be  an  effectual  argument  against 
each  of  these  opinions  raised  from  the  principles  of 
philosophy.  I  shall  just  give  a  hint  of  them,  and  then 
proceed  to  search  what  scripture  has  revealed  in  this 
matter,  which  is  of  much  greater  importance  to  us,  and 


OF   A    SEPARATE    STATE.  iS 

will  have  a  more  powerful  influence  on  the  minds  of 
christians. 

I.  Some  imagine  the  soul  of  man  to  be  his  blond  or 
his  breathy  or  a  sort  of  vital  fiame,  or  refined  air  or 
vapor,  or  the  composition  and  motion  of  the  fluids  and 
solids  in  the  animal  body.  This  they  suppose  to  be 
the  spring  or  principle  of  his  intellectual  life,  and  of  ail 
his  thoughts  and  consciousness,  as  well  as  of  his  animal 
life.  And  though  this  soul  of  man  dies  together  with 
the  body,  and  has  no  manner  of  separate  existence  or 
consciousness,  yet  when  his  body  is  raised  from  the 
grave  they  suppose  this  principle  of  consciousness  is  re- 
newed again,  and  intellectual  life  is  given  him  at  the 
resurrection  as  well  as  a  new  corporeal  life. 

But  it  should  be  considered,  that  this  conscious  or 
thinking  principle  having  lost  its  existence  for  a  season, 
it  will  be  quite  a  new  thing,  or  another  creature  at  the 
resurrection  ;  and  the  man  will  be  properly  another 
person,  another  self,  another  I  or  he  :  and  such  a 
new  conscious  principle  or  person  cannot  properly  be 
rewarded  or  punished  for  personal  virtues  or  vices  of 
which  itself  cannot  be  conscious  by  any  power  of  mem- 
ory or  reflection,  and  which  were  transacted  in  this  mor- 
tal state  by  another  distinct  principle  of  consciousness. 
For  if  the  conscious  principle  itself,  or  the  thinking 
being  has  ceased  to  exist,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should 
retain  any  memory  of  former  actionsj  since  itself  began 
to  be  but  in  the  moment  of  the  resurrection.  The  doc- 
trine of  rewarding  or  punishing  the  same  soul  or  intel- 
ligent nature  which  did  good  or  evil  in  this  life,  neces- 
sarily requires  that  the  same  soul  or  intelligent  nature 
should  have  a  continued  and  uninterrupted  existence, 
that  so  the  same  conscious  being  which  did  good  or 
evil  may  be  rewarded  or  punished. 

II.  Those  who  suppose  the  soul  of  man  to  have  a 
real  distinct  existence  when  the  body  dies,  but  only  to 


14  ESSAY    TOWARD   THE    PROOF 

fall  into  a  state  of  slumber  witliout  consicousiiess  or  ac- 
tivity, must,  I  think,  suppose  this  soul  to  be  material^ 
i.  e.  an  extended  and  solid  substance. 

If  they  suppose  it  to  be  inextended,  or  to  have  no 
parts  or  quantity,  I  confess  I  have  no  manner  of  idea  of 
the  existence  or  possibility  of  such  an  inextended  being 
without  consciousness  or  active  power,  nor  do  they  pre- 
tend to  have  any  such  idea  as  I  ever  heard,  and  there- 
fore they  generally  grant  it  to  be  extended. 

But  if  tliey  imagine  the  soul  to  be  extended,  it  must 
either  have  something  more  of  solidity  or  density  than 
mere  empty  space,  or  it  must  be  quite  as  unsolid  and 
thin  as  space  itself.    Let  us  consider  both  these. 

If  it  be  as  thin  and  subtle  as  mere  empty  space,  yet 
while  it  is  active  and  conscious,  I  own  it  must  have  a 
proper  existence ;  but  if  it  ouce  begin  to  sleep  and  drop 
all  consciousness  and  activity,  I  liave  no  other  idea  of  it, 
but  the  same  which  I  have  of  empty  space ;  and  that  I 
conceive  to  be  mere  nothing,  though  it  impose  upon  us 
with  the  appearance  of  some  sort  of  properties. 

If  they  allow  the  soul  to  have  any  the  least  degree 
of  density  above  what  belongs  to  empty  space,  this  is 
solidity  in  the  philosophic  sense  of  the  word,  and  then 
it  is  solid  extension,  which  I  call  matter:  and  a  material 
being  may  indeed  be  laid  asleep,  i.  e.  it  may  cease  to 
have  any  motion  in  its  parts  ;  but  motion  is  not  con- 
sciousness ;  and  how  either  solid  or  unsolid  extension, 
either  space  or  matter,  can  have  any  consciousness  or 
thought  belonging  to  any  part  of  it,  or  spread  through 
the  whole  of  it,  I  know  not ;  or  what  any  sort  of  exten- 
sion can  do  toward  thought  or  consciousness,  I  confess 
I  understand  not ;  nor  can  I  frame  any  more  an  idea 
of  it,  than  1  can  of  a  blue  motion  or  a  sweet  smelling 
sound,  or  of  fire  or  air  or  water  reasoning  or  rejoicing : 
and  I  do  not  affect  to  speak  of  things  or  words,  when  I 
can  form  no  correspondent  ideas  of  what  is  spoken. 


OP    A    SEPARATE    STATE.  15 

So  far  as  I  can  judge,  the  soul  of  man  in  its  own 
nature,  is  nothing  else  hut  a  conscious  and  active  princi- 
ple, subsisting  by  itself,  made  after  the  image  of  God, 
who  is  all  conscious  activity ;  and  it  is  still  the  same 
being,  whether  it  be  united  to  an  animal  body,  or  sepa- 
rated from  it.  If  the  body  die,  the  soul  still  exists  an 
active  and  conscious  power  or  principle,  or  being ;  and  if 
it  ceases  to  be  conscious  and  active,  I  think  it  ceases  to 
be  ;  for  I  have  no  conception  of  what  remains. 

Now,  if  the  conscious  principle  continue  conscious 
after  death,  it  will  not  be  in  a  mere  conscious  indolence  : 
the  good  man  and  the  wicked  will  not  have  tlie  same 
indolent  existence.  Virtue  or  vice,  in  the  very  temper 
of  this  being  when  absent  from  matter  or  body,  will 
become  a  pleasure  or  a  pain  to  the  conscience  of  a  sep- 
arate spirit. 

I  am  well  aware  that  this  is  a  subject  wiiich  has  em- 
ployed the  thoughts  of  many  philosophers,  and  I  do  but 
just  intimate  my  own  sentiments  without  presuming  to 
judge  for  others.  But  the  defence  or  refutation  of  argu- 
ments on  this  subject  would  draw  me  into  a  field  of 
pliilosophical  discourse,  which  is  very  foreign  to  my 
present  purpose  :  and  whether  tliis  reasoning  stand  or 
fall,  it  will  have  but  very  little  influence  on  tliis  contro- 
versy with  the  generality  of  christians,  because  it  is  a 
thuig  rather  to  be  determined  by  the  revelation  of  the 
word  of  God.  I  therefere  drop  this  argument  at  once, 
and  apply  myself  immediately  to  consider  tlie  proofs 
that  may  be  drawn  from  scripture  for  the  soul's  ex- 
istence in  a  separate  state  after  death,  and  before  the 
resurrection. 


16  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

SECTION  11. 

PROBABLE  ARGUMENTS  FOR  THE  SEPARATE  STATE. 

THERE  are  several  places  of  scripture  in  the 
Old  Testament,  as  well  as  in  the  New,  which  may  be 
most  naturally  and  properly  construed  to  signify  the 
existence  of  the  soul  in  a  separate  state  after  the  body 
is  dead  ;  but  since  they  do  not  carry  with  them  such 
plain  evidence  or  forcible  proof,  and  may  possibly  be 
interpreted  to  another  sense,  I  shall  not  long  insist  upon 
them :  liowever  it  may  not  be  amiss  just  to  mention  a 
few  of  them,  and  pass  away. 

Psalm  Ixxiii.  24,  26.  Thou  slialt  guide  me  with  thy 
counaelf  and  afterward  receive  me  to  glory :  my  flesh  and 
my  heatt  faileth  ;  but  God  i^  the  strength  of  my  heart 
and  my  portion  for  ever.  In  tliese  verses  receiving  to 
glory  seems  immediately  to  follow  a  guidance  through 
this  world  ;  and  when  the  flesh  and  heart  of  the  Psalmist 
should/^?/  him  in  deatli,  God  continued  to  be  \\\^ portion 
for  ever,  God  would  receive  him  to  himself  as  such  a 
portion,  and  thereby  he  gave  strength  or  courage  to  his 
heart  even  in  a  dying  hour.  It  would  be  a  very  odd 
and  unnatural  exposition  of  this  text  to  interpret  it  only 
of  the  resurrection  :  thus,  Thou  shalt  guide  me  by  thy 
counsel  through  this  life,  and  after  the  long  interval  of 
some  thousand  years  thou  wilt  receive  me  to  glory. 

Eccles.  xii.  7  Then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth 
as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  to  God  that  gave  it.  It  is  con- 
fessed the  word  spirit  in  the  Hebrew  is  the  same  with 
breath,  and  is  represented  in  some  places  of  scripture 
as  the  spring  of  animal  life  to  the  body  :  yet  it  is  evident 
in  many  other  places,  the  word  spirit  signifies  the  con- 
scious principle  in  man,  or  the  intelligent  being,  which 
knows  and  reasons,  perceives  and  acts.  The  Scripture 
speaks  of  being  grieved  in  spirit,  Isa.  liv.  6.     Of  re- 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  17 

joicin^s;  in  spirit,  Luke  x.  SI.  The  spirit  of  a  man 
Icnoiveth  the  things  of  a  man,  1.  Cor.  ii.  11.  There  is 
a  spirit  in  man,  i.  e.  a  principle  of  understanding,  Job 
xxxii.  8.  And  this  spirit  both  of  the  wicked  and  the 
righteous  at  death  returns  to  God,  Eccl.  xii.  7-  to  God 
who  (as  I  hinted  before)  is  the  Judge  of  all  in  the  world 
of  spirits,  probably  to  be  further  determined  and  dis- 
posed of,  as  to  its  state  of  reward  or  punishment. 

Isa  Ivii.  ;3.  The  righteous  is  taken  away  from  the 
evil  to  come :  he  shall  enter  into  peace :  they  shall  rest  in 
their  beds,  each  one  icalking  in  his  uprightness.  The 
soul  of  every  one  that  walketh  uprightly  shall  at  death 
enter  into  a  state  of  peace  while  their  body  rests  in  the 
bed  of  dust. 

Luke  ix.  30^  31.  And  behold  there  talked  with  him, 
i.  e.  with  Jesus,  two  men,  which  ivere  Moses  and  Elias, 
who  appeared  in  glory,  and  spake  of  his  decease  which 
he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  I  grant  it  possible 
that  these  might  be  but  mere  visions  whicli  appeared  to 
our  blessed  Saviour  and  his  apostles  :  but  it  is  a  much 
more  natural  and  obvious  interpretation  to  suppose  that 
the  spirits  of  these  two  great  men,  whereof  one  was  the 
institutor,  and  the  other  the  reformer  of  the  Jewish 
church,  did  really  appear  to  Christ,  who  was  the  re- 
former of  the  world,  and  the  institutor  of  the  christian 
church,  and  converse  with  him  about  the  important  event 
of  his  death  and  his  return  to  heaven.  Perhaps  the 
spirit  of  Elijah  had  his  heavenly  body  with  him  there 
since  he  never  died,  but  was  carried  alive  to  heaven ; 
but  Moses  gave  up  his  soul  at  the  call  of  God  when  no 
man  was  near  him,  and  his  body  was  buried  by  God. 
himself.  See  S  Kings  ii.  11.  and  Deut.  xxxiv.  1,  5,  6. 
and  his  spirit  was  probably  made  visible  only  by  an 
assumed  vehicle  for  that  purpose. 

JoIhi  v.  34.  Whoso  heareth  mi)  word  and  believeth 
dn  him  that  sent  me,  hath  everlasting  life;  is  passed  from 


18  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

death  to  life.  Joliii  vi.  47,  50,  51.  This  is  the  bread 
which  Cometh  down  from  heaven,  that  a  man  may  eat 
thereof  and  not  die.  If  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he 
shall  live  for  ever.  John  xi.  26.  Whoso  liveth  and  be- 
lieveth  in  me,  shall  never  die,  to  which  may  be  added  the 
words  of  Christ  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  John  iv.  14. 
The  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water,  springing  up  into  everlasting  life.  1  John  v.  12. 
He  that  hath  the  So7i  hath  life,  &^c.  The  argument  I 
draw  from  these  scriptures  is  this :  it  is  hardly  to  be 
supposed  that  our  saviour  in  this  gospel,  and  John  in 
his  first  epistle  imitating  him,  should  speak  such  strong 
language  concerning  eternal  life,  actually  given  to  and 
possessed  by  the  believers  of  that  day,  if  there  must  be 
an  interruption  of  it  by  total  death  or  sleep  both  of  soul 
and  body  for  almost  two  thousand  years,  i.  e.  till  the 
resurrection. 

Acts  vii.  59.  *S.nd  they  stoned  Stephen  calling  upon 
God,  saying,  Lord  Jesus  receive  my  spirit.  Those 
who  deny  a  separate  state,  suppose  that  Stephen  here 
commits  his  spirit,  or  principle  of  human  life,  into  the 
hands  or  care  of  Christ  (because  the  life  of  a  saint  is 
said  to  be  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  Colos.  iii.  3,  4.)  that 
he  might  restore  it  at  the  resurrection,  and  raise  him 
to  life  again.  But  I  think  this  is  an  unnatural  force  put 
upon  these  words,  contrary  to  their  most  obvious  mean- 
ing, if  we  consider  the  context :  for  Stephen  here  had  a 
vision  of  tiie  Son  of  Man  or  Christ  Jesus,  standing  on 
the  right  hand  of  God,  and  the  glory  of  God  near  him ; 
see  ver.  55,  5Q.  Whereupon  Stephen  being  conscious 
of  the  existence  of  Clirist  in  that  glorious  state,  desired 
that  he  would  receive  his  spirit,  and  take  it  to  dwell 
with  him  in  liis  Father's  house ;  not  to  lie  and  sleep  in 
heaven,  for  there  is  no  night  there,  but  to  behold  the 
glory  of  Christ  according  to  the  many  promises  that 
Christ  had  made  to  his  disciples,  that  he  would  go  and 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE,  19 

prepare  a  place  for  them  in  his  Father^  s  house,  and  that 
they  sliould  be  until  him  there  to  behold  his  glory,  John 
viv.  and  xvii,  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of 
afterward. 

Rom.  viii.  10,  11.  And  if  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body 
is  dead  because  of  sin,  but  the  spirit  is  life  because  of 
righteousness,  i.  e.  If  Christ  dwell  in  you  by  the  sanc- 
tifying influences  of  his  Spirit,  it  is  true  indeed,  your 
body  is  mortal  and  must  die,  because  it  is  doomed  to 
death  from  the  fall  of  Adam  on  the  account  of  sin,  and 
because  sinful  principles  still  dwell  in  this  flesldy 
body ;  but  your  soul  or  spirit  is  life,  or  your  spirit  lives 
when  the  body  is  dead,  and  enjoys  a  life  of  happiness, 
because  of  the  righteousness  imputed  to  you,  i.  e.  your 
justification  unto  life,  Rom.  v.  17?  18?  Si-  I  know 
there  are  several  other  ways  of  construing  the  words  of 
this  verse  by  metaphors  ;  but  the  plain  and  most  natural 
antitliesis  which  appears  liere  between  the  death  of  the 
body  of  a  saint  because  of  sin  or  guilt,  and  the  continu- 
ance of  the  spirit  or  soul  in  a  life  of  peace  because  of 
justification  or  righteousness,  and  that  even  when  the 
body  is  dead,  gives  a  pretty  clear  proof  that  this  is  the 
sense  of  the  apostle.  This  is  also  further  confirmed  by 
the  next  verse,  which  promises  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  body  in  due  time.  If  the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised 
up  Christ  from  the  dead,  dwell  in  you,  he  that  raised  up 
Christ  from  the  dead,  i.  e.  God  tlie  Fatlier,  shall  also 
quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  his  Spirit  that  dwelleth 
in  you.  The  spirit  or  soul  of  the  saint  lives  without 
dying,  because  of  its  pardon  of  sin  and  justification 
and  sanctification,  in  tlie  10th  verse ;  and  the  body 
(not  the  spirit  or  soul)  shall  be  quickened  or  raised  to 
life  again,  by  the  blessed  Spirit  of  God  which  dwells 
in  the  saints,  ver.  11. 

2  Cor.  V.  1,  2.  ^'  For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly 
house  of  this  tabernacle  w  ere  dissolved,  we  have  a  build- 


2&  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

ing  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  tlic 
heavens.  For  in  this  we  groan  earnestly,  desiring  to 
be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven." 
Ver.  4.  *^  We  in  this  tabernacle  groan  being  burdened, 
not  for  that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon, 
that  mortality  might  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  this  house  fmrn  heaven,  this  building  of  God, 
is  something  which  is  like  the  clothing  of  a  soul  divested 
of  this  earthly  tabernacle,  ver.  1,  2 ;  or  it  is  the  clothing 
of  the  whole  person,  body  and  soul,  which  would  abro- 
gate the  state  of  mortality  and  sitmlloiv  it  iip  in  life,  ver. 
4.  For  though  in  ver.  4,  the  Apostle  supposes  that  the 
soul  doth  not  desire  the  death  of  the  body,  or  that  itself 
should  be  unclothed,  and  therefore  he  would  rather 
choose  to  have  this  state  of  blessed  immortality  superin- 
duced on  his  body  and  soul  at  once  without  dying,  yet 
in  the  first  verse  he  plainly  means  such  a  house  in  or 
from  heaven,  or  such  a  clothing  which  may  come  upon 
the  soul  immediately  as  soon  as  the  earthly  house  or 
tabernacle  of  his  body  is  dissolved.  And  how  dubious 
soever  this  may  appear  to  those  who  read  the  chapter 
only  thus  far,  yet  the  8th  verse,  which  supposes  good 
men  to  be  present  with  Christ  when  absent  from  the 
body,  determines  the  sense  of  it  as  I  have  explained  it ; 
of  which  hereafter. 

Perhaps  it  is  hard  to  determine,  whether  this  super- 
induced clothing  be  like  the  Sliechinah  or  visible  glory 
in  which  Christ,  Moses,  and  Elias,  appeared  at  the 
transfiguration,  and  which  some  suppose  to  have  be- 
longed to  Adam  in  innocency ;  or  whether  it  signify 
only  a  state  of  happy  immortality,  superinduced  or 
brought  in  upon  the  departing  soul  at  death,  or  upon  the 
soul  and  body  united  as  in  this  life,  and  with  which 
those  saints  shall  be  clothed,  who  a.re  found  alive  at  the 
coming  of  Christ,  according  to  1  Cor.  xv.  52,  53,  54. 

Let  this  matter,  1  say,  be   determined  either  way  j 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  2i 

yet  the  great  point  seems  to  be  evident,  even  beyond 
probability,  that  there  is  a  conscious  being  spoken  of, 
which  is  very  distinct  from  its  tabernacle,  or  hausp,  or 
clothings  and  w^hich  exists  still,  w^hatever  its  clothing 
or  its  dwelling  be,  or  whether  it  be  put  off  or  pat  on  ; 
and  that,  when  the  earthly  house  or  vesse)  is  dissolved 
or  put  off,  the  heavenly  house  or  clothing  is  ready  at 
hand  to  be  put  on  immediately,  to  render  the  soul  of  the 
christian  fit  to  be  present  with  the  Lord. 

2  Cor.  xii.  2,  3.  "  I  knew  a  man  in  Christ  above 
fourteen  years  ago,  whether  in  the  body,  or  out  of  the 
body,  I  cannot  tell,  God  knoweth  ;  how  that  he  was 
caught  up  into  paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words.'' 
I  grant  this  ecstacy  of  the  apostle  does  not  actually 
shew  the  existence  of  a  separate  state  after  death  till  the 
resurrection  ;  yet,  it  plainly  manifests  St.  Paul's  belief, 
that  there  might  be  such  a  state  ;  and  tliat  the  soul 
might  be  separated  from  the  body,  and  might  exist,  and 
think,  and  know,  and  act,  in  paradise,  in  a  state  of  sep- 
aration, and  hear,  and  perhaps  converse  in  the  un- 
speakable language  of  that  world,  while  it  was  absent 
from  the  body. 

And,  as  I  acknowledge  T  am  one  of  those  persons 
who  do  not  believe  that  the  intellectual  spirit  or  mind 
of  man  is  the  proper  principle  of  animal  life  to  the  body, 
but  that  it  is  another  distinct  conscious  being,  that  gen- 
erally uses  the  body  as  an  habitation,  engine,  or  instru- 
ment, while  its  animal  life  remains  ;  so  I  am  of  opinion, 
it  is  a  possible  thing  for  the  intellectual  spirit,  in  a 
miraculous  manner,  by  the  special  order  of  God,  to  act 
in  a  state  of  separation  without  the  death  of  the  animal 
body,  since  the  life  of  the  body  depends  upon  breath 
and  air,  and  the  regular  temper  and  motion  of  tlie  solids 
and  fluids  of  which  it  is  composed.*     And  St.  Paul 

*  It  would  be  thoug'ht,  perhaps,  a  little  foreign  to  my  present  purpose, 
if  1  should  stay  here,  to  prove  that  it  h  not  the  conscious  principle  in  man, 


22  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

seems  here  to  be  of  the  same  mind,  by  his  doubting 
whether  his  spirit  was  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body, 
whilst  it  was  wrapt  into  the  third  heaven  and  enjoyed 
this  vision,  his  body  being  yet  alive. 

Phil.  i.  2i.  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is 
gain.  The  apostle,  whilst  he  was  here  upon  earth, 
spent  his  life  in  the  service  of  Christ,  and  enjoyed 
many  glorious  communications  from  him.  For  him  to  live 
was  Christ.  And  on  this  account,  he  was  contented  to 
continue  here  in  life  longer  :  yet  he  is  well  satisfied 
that  death  would  be  an  advantage  or  gain  to  him.  Now 
we  can  hardly  suppose  what  gain  it  would  be  for  St. 
Paul  to  die,  if  his  soul  immediately  went  to  sleep,  and 
became  inactive  and  unconscious,  while  his  body  lay 
in  the  grave,  and  neither  soul  nor  body  could  do  any 
service  for  Christ,  or  receive  any  communications  from 
him  till  the  great  rising  day.  This  text  seems  to  carry 
the  argument  above  a  mere  probability. 

that  gives  or  maintains  the  animal  life  of  his  body.  It  is  granted,  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  course  of  nature,  and  tlie  general  appointment  of  God  therein, 
this  conscious  principle  or  spirit  continues  its  communications  with  the  body, 
while  the  body  has  animal  life,  or  is  capable  of  its  natural  motions,  and  able 
to  obey  the  volitions  of  the  spirit ;  and  on  this  account,  the  union  of  the  ra- 
tional spirit  to  the  body,  and  the  animal  life  of  the  body,  are  often  represented 
as  one  and  the  same  thing. 

But,  if  we  enter  into  a  philosophical  consideration  of  things,  we  should 
remember  that  animals  of  every  kind  in  earth,  air,  and  sea,  and  even  the 
minutest  insects  which  swarm  in  millions,  and  worlds  of  them,  which  are 
invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  have  all  an  animal  life,  but  no  such  conscious  or 
thinking  principle  as  is  in  man  :  and  why  may  not  the  body  of  man  have 
tha  same  sort  of  animal  life  quite  distinct  from  the  conscious  spirit  ? 

Besides,  if  this  conscious  principle  give  life  to  the  body,  medicines  and 
physicians,  whose  power  reaches  only  to  rectify  the  disordered  solids  or  fluids 
of  the  body,  would  not  be  so  necessary  to  preserve  life,  as  an  orator  to  per- 
suade the  spirit  to, continue  in  the  body,  and  preserve  its  life.  And  accord- 
ingly, we  read  of  foreign  ignorant  nations,  where  the  kindred  persuade  the 
dying  person  to  live  and  tarry  with  them,  and  not  to  forsake  them  ;  and,when 
the  person  is  dead,  they  mourn  and  reprove  him,  "  Wliy  were  you  so  unkind 
to  leave  and  forsake  us  ;"  and  indeed  this  conduct  of  those  poor  savages  is  a 
very  natural  inference  from  their  supposition  of  the  intelligent  spirit  giving 
animal  life  to  the  body. 


OP  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  g3 

1  Thess.  iv.  14.  For  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died, 
and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus 
ivill  God  bring  ivith  him.  The  most  natural  and  ev- 
ident sense  of  these  words,  is  this,  tliat  when  the  man 
Jesus  Christ  (in  whom  dwells  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head) shall  descend  from  heaven,  in  order  to  raise  the 
dead  bodies  of  those  that  died,  or  went  to  sleep  in  the 
faith  of  Christ,  God  dwelling  in  him,  will  bring  with 
him  the  souls  of  his  saints  who  were  in  paradise,  down 
to  earth  to  be  reunited  to  their  bodies  when  Jesus  raises 
them  from  the  dead,  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  4n  the 
6th  verse  :  this,  I  say,  is  the  most  natural  and  obvious 
sense  ;  other  paraplirases  of  the  words  seem  strained 
and  unnatural. 

1  Thess.  V.  10.  Jesus  Christ,  icho  died  for  us,  that 
whether  we  wake  or  sleep,  we  should  live  together  tvith 
him.  Sleep  is  the  death  of  good  men,  in  the  language 
of  the  apostle,  in  chap.  iv.  13,  14,  15  ;  and  sleep  in  this 
verse,  can  neither  signify  natural  sleep,  as  verse  7  ;  nor 
spiritual  sloth,  as  verse  6  ;  therefore  it  must  signify 
death  here.  Now,  they  who  sleep  in  Christ,  in  this 
sense,  do  still  live  together  ivith  him  in  their  souls,  and 
shall  live  with  him  in  their  bodies  also,  when  raised 
from  the  dead.  This  exposition  arises  near  to  a  cer- 
tainty of  evidence. 

1  Pet.  iii.  18,  19,  20.  Christ  was  put  to  death  in  the 
flesh,  but  quickened  by  the  Spirit  ;  by  which  also  he 
went  and  preached  unto  the  spirits  in  prison,  which 
sometime  were  disobedient,  ichen  once  the  long-suffering 
of  God  waited  in  the  days  of  J^oah.  I  confess  this  is  a 
text  that  has  much  puzzled  interpreters,  in  what  sense 
Christ  may  be  said  to  go  and  preach  to  those  ancient 
rebels  who  were  destroyed  by  the  flood  ;  Vv'hether  he 
did  it  by  his  Spirit  working  in  Noah  the  preacher  of 
righteousness  in  those  days  ;  or  whether,  in  the  three 
days  in  which   the  body  of  Christ   lay  dead,   Jiis  soul 


34  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

visited  the  spirits  of  those  rebels  in  their  separate  state 
of  imprisonment,  on  which  some  ground  the  notion  of 
his  descent  into  hell.  But,  let  this  be  determined  as  it 
will,  the  most  clear  and  easy  sense  of  the  apostle,  when 
he  speaks  of  the  spirits  in  prison^  is,  that  the  souls  of 
those  rebels,  after  their  bodies  were  destroyed  by  the 
flood,  were  reserved  in  prison  for  some  special  and  fu^ 
ture  design  :  and  this  is  very  parallel  to  the  present 
circumstances  of  fallen  angels  in  Jude,  verse  6.  "  The 
angels  that  kept  not  their  first  estate,  he  liath  reserved 
in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness,  unto  the  judgment 
of  the  great  day.''  And  why  may  not  the  spirits  of 
men  be  as  well  kept  in  such  a  prison  as  angelic  spirits  ? 

Jude,  verse  7.  '^  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  are  set  forth 
for  an  example,  suffering  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire." 
It  is  evident,  that  the  material  fire  wliich  destroyed 
So«lom  and  Gomorrha,  was  not  eternal  ;  for  a  great  lake 
of  water  quickly  overflowed,  aijd  now  covers  all  that 
plain  where  the  fire  was  first  kindled,  Avhich  burnt 
down  those  cities.  It  is  manifest  also,  that  the  day  of 
resurrection  and  future  punishment  being  not  yet  come, 
they  do  not  at  this  time,  sntfer  the  vengeance  of  eternal 
fire  in  their  bodies.  Nor  can  this  verse,  I  think,  be 
well  explained  to  make  Sodom  and  .Gomorrha  an  ex- 
ample to  deter  present  sinners  from  uncleanness,  but  by 
allowing  that  the  spirits  of  those  lewd  persons  are  now 
suffering  a  degree  of  vengeance  or  punishment  from  the 
justice  of  God,  which  is  compared  to  that^re  whereby 
their  cities  and  their  bodies  were  burnt ;  and  which 
vengeance,  at  the  last  great  day,  shall  continue  their 
punishment,  and  pronounce  it  eternal,  or  kindle  materi- 
al fire  which  shall  never  be  quenched. 

The  last  text  I  sliall  mention,  is  Rev.  vi.  9.  1  saw 
under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the 
word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they  held.  I 
confess  this  is  a  book  of  visions,  and  this  place,  amongst 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  25 

others,  might  be  explained  as  a  mere  vision  of  the 
apostle,  if  there  were  no  other  text  which  confirmed  the 
doctrine  of  a  separate  state :  But  since  I  think  there 
are  some  solid  proofs  of  it  in  other  parts  of  the  New 
Testament,  I  know  not  why  this  may  not  be  explained, 
at  least  something  nearer  to  the  literal  sense  of  it  than 
those  will  alloAv,  who  suppose  the  soul  to  sleep  from 
death  to  the  resurrection.  Why  may  not  the  spirits  of 
the  martyrs,  which  are  now  with  God,  pray  him  to 
hftsten  the  accomplishment  of  his  promises  made  to  his 
church,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  upon  his  irreconcila- 
ble enemies. 


SECTION  in. 

SOME  FIRMER   OR   MORE   EVIDENT  PROOFS  OF  A  SEP AR ATI: 

STATE. 

I  COME  now  to  consider  those  texts  which  do 
more  expressly  and  certainly  discover  the  separate 
state,  and  which,  I  think,  cannot,  with  any  tolerable 
appearance  of  reason,  Ije  turned  aside  from  their  plain 
and  obvious  intention,  to  reveal  and  declare  that  there  is 
a  separate  state  of  souls.  And  such,  in  my  opinion, 
are  these  that  follow. 

I.  Text,  Matt.  x.  28.  Fear  not  them  which  Mil  the 
body,  hut  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ;  hut  rather  fear  him 
who  is  able  to  destroy  both  body  and  soul  in  hell.  Every 
common  reader,  as  well  as  every  man  of  learning,  who 
reads  this  text  with  a  sincere  mind  and  without  preju- 
dice, I  think,  will  acknowledge  at  least,  that  the  most 
obvious  and  easy  sense  of  the  words,  implies,  that  there 
is  a  soul  in  man  which  men  cannot  kill,  even  though 
they  kill  the  body. 

It  is  to  very  little  purpose  for  writers  to  sav,  that  the 
4 


2Q  ESSAY    TOWARD   THE    PROOF 

Greek  word  •^'^X.^  wliicli  we  translate  soul  here,  dotli  in 
other  places  of  scripture,  and  even  in  the  39th  verse  of 
this  very  chapter,  signify  //fe,  and  consequently  here  it 
may  also  signify  the  animal  life  or  the  person  of  the 
man ;  for  it  is  manifest,  that  in  this  place  it  must  signify 
some  immortal  principle  in  man  that  cannot  die ;  whereas 
when  the  body  is  killed,  the  animal  life  dies  too,  and 
does  not  exist  till  the  body  is  raised  again :  but  the  soul 
is  a  principle  in  this  place  which  men  cannot  kill  even 
though  they  destroy  the  life  of  the  body :  and  whatso- 
ever other  senses  the  word  ')livy^v]  may  obtain  in  other 
texts  that  cannot  preclude  sucli  a  sense  of  it  in  this  text, 
as  is  most  usual  in  itself,  and  which  the  context  makes 
necessary  in  this  place. 

Nor  will  it  avail  the  supporters  of  the  mortality  of  the 
soul  to  say  that  this  scripture  means  only  that  men  can- 
not kill  the  soul  for  ever^  so  that  it  shall  forever  perish 
and  have  no  future  life  hereafter  by  a  resurrection :  for 
in  this  sense  men  cannot  Mil  the  body,  so  that  it  shall 
never  revive  or  rise  again  :  but  here  is  a  plain  distinction 
in  the  text,  that  the  body  may  be  killed,  but  the  soul 
cannot. 

And  I  think  this  scripturfe  proves  also,  that  though  the 
])ody  may  be  laid  to  sleep  in  the  grave,  yet  the  soul  can- 
not be  laid  to  sleep ;  for  the  substance  of  the  body  still 
exists,  and  is  not  utterly  destroyed  by  killing  it,  but 
only  laid  to  sleep  for  a  time,  as  the  scripture  often  de- 
scribes death  :  but  tlie  soul  cannot  be  thus  laid  to  sleep 
for  a  time,  with  its  substance  still  existing,  for  that  would 
be  to  have  no  pre-eminence  above  the  body,  which  is 
contrary  to  this  assertion  of  our  Saviour. 

II.  Luke  xvi.  22,  &c.  ^*  The  beggar  died  and  was 
carried  by  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom  :  The  rich  man 
also  died  and  was  buried,  and  in  hell  he  lift  up  his  eyes, 
being  in  torments,  and  said,  father  Abraham,  Iiave  mercy 
on  me,  &c.  and  send  Lazarus,  verse  27,  to  my  father's 


OF    A    SEPARATE    STATE.  27 

house  that  he  may  testify  to  my  brethren,  lest  they  come 
also  into  this  place  of  torment.''  I  grant  that  this  ac- 
count of  the  rich  man  and  the  beggar  is  but  a  parable, 
and  yet  it  may  prove  the  existence  of  the  rich  man's  soul 
in  a  place  of  torment  before  the  resurrection  of  the  body  ; 
I.  Because  the  existence  of  souls  in  a  separate  state, 
whilst  other  men  dwell  here  on  earth,  is  the  xQvjf omnia' 
tion  of  the  whole  parable,  and  runs  tlu'ough  tlie  whole 
of  it.  The  poor  man  died  and  his  soul  was  in  paradise. 
The  rich  man's  dead  body  Avas  buried  and  his  soid  was 
in  hell,  while  his  five  bretliren  were  here  on  earth  in  a 
state  of  probation,  and  would  hearken  to  Moses  and  the 
prophets. 

2.  Because  the  very  design  of  the  parable  is  to  shew, 
that  a  ghost  sent  from  the  other  world,  whether  lieaven 
or  hell,  to  wicked  men  who  are  liei-e  in  a  state  of  trial, 
will  not  be  sufficient  to  convert  them  to  holiness,  if  they 
reject  the  means  of  grace  and  the  ministers  of  tJie  world. 
The  very  design  of  our  Saviour  seems  to  l3e  lost,  if  there 
be  no  souls  existing  in  a  separate  state.  A  ghost  sent 
from  tlie  other  world  could  never  be  supposed  to  have 
any  iniiuence  to  convert  sinners  to  this  world,  even  in  a 
parable,  if  there  were  no  such  things  as  ghosts  there. 
The  rich  man's  five  brethren  could  have  no  motive  to 
hearken  to  a  ghost  pretending  to  come  from  heaven  or 
hell,  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  ghosts  or  separate 
souls  either  happy  or  miserable.  Now  surely,  if  para- 
bles can  prove  any  tiling  at  all,  they  must  prove  those 
propositions  which  are  both  the  foundation  and  the  de- 
sign of  the  whole  parable. 

3.  I  might  add  yet  furtlier,  tliat  it  is  very  strange  that 
our  Saviour  should  so  particularly  speak  of  angels  car- 
rying the  soul  of  a  man,  whose  l)ody  was  just  dead,  into 
heaven  or  paradise,  which  he  calls  Abraham's  bosom  ; 
if  there  were  no  such  state  or  place  as  a  heaven  for  sep- 
arate souls  ;  if  Abraham's  soul  hnd   no  residence  there. 


28  ESSAY    TOWARD    THE    PROOF 

no  existence  in  that  state ;  if  angels  had  never  any 
thing  to  do  in  such  an  office.  What  would  the  Jews 
have  said  or  thought  of  a  prophet  come  from  God,  who 
had  taught  his  doctrines  to  the  people  in  such  parables 
as  had  scarce  any  sort  of  foundation  in  tlie  reality  or 
nature  of  things. 

But  you  will  say  the  Jews  had  such  an  opinion  current 
among  them,  though  it  was  a  very  false  one,  and  that 
this  was  enough  to  support  a  parable  :  I  answer,  what 
could  Christ  (who  is  tiiith  itself)  have  said  more  or 
plainer  to  confirm  the  Jews  in  this  gross  error  of  a  sepa- 
rate state  of  souls,  than  to  form  a  parable  which  sup- 
poses this  doctrine  in  the  very  design  and  moral  of  it,  as 
well  as  in  the  foundation  and  matter  of  it. 

HI.  Luke  XX.  37?  38.  '"  Now  that  the  dead  are  rais- 
ed even  Moses  shewed  at  tlie  bush,  when  he  calleth  the 
Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the 
God  of  Jacob ;  for  he  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead  but  of  the 
living;  for  all  live  unto  him."  Some  learned  men  sup- 
pose that  the  controversy  between  Christ  and  the  Sad- 
ducees  in  this  place  was  a])out  the  anastasis,  which 
implies  the  whole  state  of  existence  after  death,  including 
both  tlie  separate  state  and  the  resurrection,  Ijecause  the 
Sadducees  denied  both  these  at  once,  and  believed  that 
death  finished  the  whole  existence  of  the  man.  They 
denied  angels  and  spirits,  Acts  xxiii.  8.  i.  e.  separate 
souls  of  men,  and  thought  the  rewards  and  punishments 
mentioneji  in  scripture  related  only  to  this  life.  Upon 
this  account  they  suppose  our  Saviour's  design  is  to  prove 
the  existence  of  persons  or  spirits  in  the  separate  state 
as  much  as  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

And  when  he  says,  that  tlie  Lord  or  Jehovah  is  de- 
scribed as  the  God  of  Abraham,  &c.  it  supposes  Abraliam 
at  the  same  time  to  have  actually  some  life  and  existence 
in  some  state  or  otlier,  for  God  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead, 
but  of  the  living,  for  all  that  are  dead  and  gone  out  of 


OF    A    SEPARATE    STATE.  39 

this  world  still  live  unto  God,  i.  e.  they  have  present  life 
in  the  invisible  world  of  spirits  as  God  is  an  invisible 
Spirit,  as  well  as  they  expect  a  resurrection  of  their 
body  in  due  time. 

Hbw  could  God  in  the  days  of  Moses  be  called  actu- 
ally the  God  of  Mraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  who  were 
long  since  dead,  if  there  was  no  sense  in  wMch  they 
were  now  alive  to  God,  since  our  Saviour  declares  God 
is  properly  the  God  only  of  the  living,  and  not  of  the 
dead  P  This  part  of  the  argument  holds  good  in  what- 
soever sense  you  construe  the  whole  debate,  and  by 
whatsoever  medium  or  connection  you  prove  the  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  and  this  is  obvious  to 
the  honest  and  unlearned  reader,  as  well  as  to  the  men 
of  learning. 

IV.  Luke  xxiii.  42,  43.  "  And  he  (that  is  the  peni- 
tent thief  upon  the  cross)  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  remem- 
ber me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom  :  and  Jesus 
said  unto  him,  verily  I  say  unto  thee,  to-day  slialt  thou 
be  with  me  in  paradise."  The  thief  upon  the  cross  be- 
lieved that  Christ  would  enter  into  paradise  which  he 
supposed  to  be  Christ's  kingdom,  when  he  departed 
from  this  world  which  was  not  his  kingdom  ;  and  this  he 
believed  partly  according  to  the  common  sentiment  of 
the.  Jews  concerning  good  men  at  their  death,  as  well  as 
it  is  agreeable  to  our  Saviour's  own  expressions  to  God, 
John  xvii.  11.  Holy  Father,  I  am  no  more  in  the  world 
and  I  am  come  unto  thee :  or  as  he  had  said  to  his  dis- 
ciples, Jolm  xvi.  28.  /  leave  the  world  and  go  to  the 
Father. 

And  according  to  these  expressions,  Luke  xxiii.  46. 
Christ  dies  with  these  words  on  his  lips.  Father,  into  thij 
hands  I  commend  my  spirit.  Our  Saviour  taking  notice 
of  the  repentance  of  the  thief,  acknowledging  his  own 
guilt,  thus,  we  are  justly  under  this  condemnation  and 
receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds  ;  and  taking  notice 


30  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

also  of  his  faith  in  the  Messiah,  as  a  king  whose  king- 
dom was  not  of  this  worlds  wlien  he  prayed,  Lord,  re- 
member me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom :  Christ, 
I  say,  taking  notice  of  both  these,  answers  him  with  a 
promise  of  much  grace,  Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  to-day 
shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  jiaradise. 

The  use  of  the  word  paradise  in  scripture,  and  amongst 
ancient  writers  Jewish  and  Christian,  is  to  signify  tlie 
hajjpiness  of  holy  souls  in  a  separate  state ;  and  our 
Saviour  entering  into  that  state  at  his  death,  declared  to 
the  dying  penitent,  that  he  should  be  with  him  there  im- 
mediately. It  is  certain,  that  by  tlie  word  paradise,  8t. 
Paul  means  the  place  of  happy  spirits,  into  ^^  hicli  he 
was  transported,  2  Cor.  xii.  4.  And  tliis  sense  is  very 
accommodate  and  proper  to  this  expression  of  our  Sa- 
viour, and  to  the  prayer  of  the  penitent  thief;  and  it  is 
as  suitable  to  the  design  of  Christ  in  his  epistle  to  the 
church  of  Ephesus,  Rev.  ii.  7  ?  '^  the  tree  of  life  in  the 
midst  of  the  paradise  of  God,-'  which  are  the  only  three 
places  wliere  the  New  Testament  uses  this  word. 

I  know  there  have  been  great  pains  taken  to  shew 
that  the  stops  should  be  altered,  and  the  comma  should 
be  placed  after  the  word  to-day  ,*  thus,  '^  I  say  unto  thee 
to-day,  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise ;  i.  e.  some 
time  or  other  hereafter.  As  though  Christ  meant  no 
more  than  this,  viz  :  "  thou  askest  me  to  remember  thee 
wJien  I  come  into  my  kingdom  :  and  I  declare  unto  thee 
truly  this  very  day,  that  some  long  time  hereafter,  thou 
shalt  be  witli  me  in  happiness  at  thy  resurrection,  when 
my  kingdom  shall  be  just  at  an  end,  and  I  shall  give  it 
all  up  to  the  Father,''^  as  in  1  Cor.  xv.  24.  Can  any 
one  imagine  this  to  be  the  meaning  of  our  ])lessed  Sa- 
viour, in  answer  to  this  prayer  of  the  dying  penitent  ?  I 
know  also,  there  are  other  laborious  criticisms  to  repre- 
sent these  words  f  to-day  J  in  other  ])laces  of  scripture, 
as  referring  to  some  distant  time,  and  not  to  mean  that 


OF   A    SEPARATE    STATE.  31 

vely  day  of  twenty-four  hours  :  but  rather  than  enter  in- 
to a  long  and  critical  debate  upon  all  these  texts,  I  will 
venture  to  trust  the  sense  of  it  in  this  place,  with  any 
sincere  and  unlearned  reader. 

But  if  we  consult  the  learned  Dr.  Whitby,  he  will 
tell  us,  that  it  was  a  familiar  phrase  of  the  Jews  to  say, 
on  a  just  man's  dying,  "  to-day  shall  he  sit  in  the  bo- 
som of  Abraham. '^  And  it  was  their  opinion,  that  the 
souls  of  the  righteous  who  were  very  eminent  in  Jjiety^ 
were  carried  immediately  into  paradise.  The  Chaldee 
paraphrase  on  Solomon's  Song,  iv.  12.  takes  some  no- 
tice of  the  souls  of  the  just  f  who  are  carried  into  paradise 
by  the  hands  of  angels.  Grotius,  in  his  notes  on  Luke 
xxiii.  43.  mentions  the  hearty  and  serious  wish  of  the 
Jews  concerning  their  friends  who  are  dead,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Talmudicial  writers  :  ''  Let  his  soul  be 
gathered  to  the  garden  of  Eden."  And  in  their  solemn 
prayers  when  one  dies,  '^  Let  him  have  his  portion  in 
paradise,  and  also  in  the  world  to  come ;"  by  which  they 
mean  the  state  of  the  resurrection,  and  plainly  distin- 
guish it  from  this  immediate  entrance  into  Eden  or  para- 
dise, at  the  hour  of  death.  The  Jews  suppose  Enoch  to 
be  carried  to  paradise,  even  in  his  body  ;  and  that  the 
souls  of  good  men  have  no  interruption  of  life  ;  but  tliat 
there  was  a  reward  for  blameless  souls,  as  the  book  of 
Wisdom  speaks,  Chap.  ii.  22.  ^*  For  God  created  man 
to  be  immortal,  and  to  be  an  image  of  his  own  eternity," 
which  seems  to  suppose  blameless  souls  entering  into  this 
reward  without  intermption  of  their  life.  And,  if  tliis 
be  the  meaning  otiiMradise  among  the  Jews,  doubtless 
oar  Saviour  spake  the  words  in  such  a  known  and  com- 
mon sense,  in  which  the  penitent  thief  would  easily  and 
presently  understand  him,  it  being  a  promise  of  grace  in 
his  dying  hour,  wherein  he  had  no  long  time  to  study 
hard  for  tlie  sense  of  it,  or  consult  the  critics  in  order  to 
find  the  meaning. 


3a  ESSAY    TOWARD    THE    PROOF 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  writings  of  St.  Paul ; 
and  it  is  certain,  that  the  most  natural  and  obvious  sense 
of  his  words,  in  many  places  of  his  epistles,  refer  to  a 
separate  state  of  the  souls  after  death  :  for,  as  he  Avas  a 
Pharisee  in  his  sentiments  of  religion,  so  he  seems  to  be 
something  of  a  Platonist  in  philosophy,  so  far  as  Chris- 
tianity admitted  the  same  principles.  Why  then  should 
it  not  be  reasonably  supposed,  wheresoever  he  speaks 
of  this  subject,  and  speaks  in  their  language  too,  that  he 
means  the  same  thing  whicli  the  Pharisees  and  the  Pla- 
tonists  believed,  that  is,  tlie  immortality  and  life  of  the 
soul  in  a  separate  state  ?  But  I  proceed  to  the  particu- 
lar texts. 

V.  2  Cor.  V.  6,  8.  ^'  Therefore  Ave  are  always  confi- 
dent, (or  of  good  courage,)  knowing,  that  whilst  we  are 
at  home  in  the  body,  we  are  absent  from  the  Lord.  Wc 
are  confident,  I  say,  and  willing  rather  to  be  absent  from 
the  body,  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord.*'  The 
apostle,  verse  4,  seems  to  wish  tliat  he  might  l)e  clothed 
upon  at  once  with  immortality  in  soul  and  body,  without 
dying  or  being  unclothed.  But,  since  these  things  are  oth- 
erwise determined,  then,  in  the  next  place,  he  would 
rather  choose  absence  from  the  body ^  that  he  might  be 
jjvesent  ivith  the  Lord.  These  words  seem  to  me  so 
plain,  so  express,  and  so  unanswerable  a  proof  of  tlie 
spirits  of  good  men  existing  in  a  separate  state,  and 
being  jxreseiit  unth  the  Lord,  when  they  are  absent  from 
the  body  at  death,  that  I  could  never  meet  but  with  two 
ways  of  evading  it. 

The  first  is  w  hat  a  gentleman  many  years  ago,  who 
professed  Christianity,  acknoAvledged  to  me,  viz.  that  he 
believed  St.  Paul  did  mean,  in  this  place,  the  same  sense 
in  which  I  have  explained  him  ;  but  he  thought  St.  Paul 
might  be  mistaken  in  his  opinion,  for  he  was  not  of  the 
apostle's  mind  in  this  point.  I  think  I  need  not  tarry  to 
i-efute  this  answer.     But  I  may  make  this  remark  upon 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  33 

it,  viz.  that  the  sense  of  St.  Paul  concerning  the  sepa- 
rate state  was  so  evident,  in  this  place,  that  this  man  had 
rather  diflPer  from  tlie  apostle  than  deny  this  to  be  his 
meaning.  All  his  prejudices  against  this  doctrine  could 
not  hinder  him  from  acknowledging  that  the  apostle  be- 
lieved and  taught  it. 

The  second  way  of  evading  it  is,  that  this  text,  with 
one  or  two  others  of  like  kind,  do  indeed  speak  of  the 
happiness  of  souls  in  a  separate  state,  but  it  doth  refer 
only  to  the  apostles  themselves,  who  had  this  peculiar 
favor  and  privelege  granted  them  by  Christ,  to  follow 
him  to  paradise  and  enjoy  his  presence  there,  while  the 
souls  of  otlier  christians  were  asleep,  unconscious  and 
inactive  till  the  resurrection. 

Answer  1.  It  is  granted  indeed,  that  several  verses  of 
this  chapter,  as  well  as  in  the  former,  have  a  peculiar 
reference  to  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  perhaps  to  the 
apostles  who  were  his  ambassadors ;  but  there  are  many 
things  in  both  these  chapters  that  are  perfectly  applica- 
ble to  every  christian ;  and  the  verses  just  before  and 
just  after  tliis  eighth  verse,  may  belong  to  all  good  men 
as  well  as  to  the  apostles  or  ministers.  He  that  hath 
wrought  us  for  the  self-same  thing,  i.  e.  for  the  happi- 
ness of  the  future  state,  is  God,  who  hath  also  given  unto 
us  the  earnest  of  the  spiint,  at  least  as  an  enlightener  and 
a  sanctifier,  if  not  as  the  author  of  special  gifts,  for  Rom« 
viii.  9.  If  any  man  hath  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is 
none  of  his.  And  ver.  6.  therefore  we  are  ahcays  confi- 
dent, or  of  good  courage,  knoit'ing  that  whilst  we  are  at 
home  in  the  body  we  are  absent  fom  the  Lord,  for  we 
walk  by  faith  not  by  sight.  This  is  or  should  be  the 
character  of  every  christian.  And  the  ninth  verse  that 
follows  it  belongs  to  all  the  saints  :  "  Wherefore  we  la- 
bor, that  whether  present  or  absent  we  may  be  accepted 
of  him  ;  for  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in 


34  ESSAY  TfOWAUD  THE  PROOF 

his  body  according  to  tliat  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be 
good  or  bad.'^  Now  why  sliouhl  we  suppose  that  St. 
Paul  excludes  all  other  christians  besides  himself  and 
his  brethren,  the  apostles,  from  the  blessing  of  the  eighth 
verse,  (viz.)  that  when  they  are  absent  from  the  bodyilmj 
shall  be  present  with  the  Lord,  since  the  verses  all  round 
it  are  applicable  to  all  christians  ? 

Jliistcer  2.  These  chapters  were  written  with  a  design 
not  only  to  vindicate  and  encourage  the  apostle  himself 
under  the  suiferings  and  reproaches  which  he  met  with, 
but  doubtless  to  give  encouragement  to  the  Corinthians, 
and  all  christians  under  any  sufferings  or  reproaches 
they  might  meet  with  in  the  world ;  that  (as  he  expresses 
it  a  little  before)  they  might  learn  to  walk  by  faith  and 
to  look  at  the  things  which  are  unseen,  which  are  eternal. 
And  indeed  if  this  peculiar  blessing  of  the  happiness  of 
a  separate  state  belongs  only  to  the  apostles,  how  much 
are  the  comforts  of  the  New  Testament  narroAved  and 
diminished,  and  the  faith  and  hope  of  common  christians 
discouraged  and  enervated,  and  their  motives  to  holiness 
weakened,  when  they  are  told,  that  they  have  notliing 
to  do  to  lay  hold  upon  such  promised  favors,  such  rela- 
tions of  grace,  because  they  belong  only  to  the  apostles 
and  not  to  them. 

And  indeed  how  shall  common  christians  ever  know 
what  part  of  the  epistles  they  may  apply  to  themselves 
for  their  direction  and  consolation,  if  they  may  not  hope 
in  such  words  of  grace,  where  the  holy  writers  use  the 
word  we,  and  do  not  plainly  intimate  that  they  belong  to 
preachers  or  apostles  only  ? 

tinswer  3.  When  our  Saviour  prays  for  himself  and 
his  apostles  in  tlie  beginning  of  the  xviith  of  St.  John,  he 
comes  in  the  :20th  verse  to  extend  the  blessings  he  had 
prayed  for  to  all  believers.  Ver.  20.  "  Neither  pray  I 
for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on 
me  through  theij-  Avord :  that  they  all  may  be  one,  as 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  35 

thou,  FatheVj  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  may  l)e 
one  in  us  ;  that  tlie  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me.  Ver.  24.  "  Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou 
liast  given  me  may  be  with  me  where  I  am,  that  they 
may  behold  my  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me."  Here 
it  is  evident  that  our  Saviour  prays  that  those  that  shall 
believe  on  him  through  the  word  of  the  apostles  may  ])e 
present  with  him  in  liis  kingdom  to  behold  his  glory ; 
and  is  not  that  a  very  considerable  part  of  his  glory, 
wliich  the  Fatlier  hath  conferred  upon  him  to  be  Lord 
and  King  and  Head  of  his  church?  but  this  peculiar 
glory  reaches  no  further  than  tlie  resurrection  and  judg- 
ment, and  cannot  l)e  seen  afterwards ;  for  in  1  Cor.  xv. 
24.  "  Then  cometh  the  end,  and  Christ  shall  deliver  up 
tlie  kingdom  to  God  tlie  Father :  the  Son  himself  also 
&hall  be  subject  unto  the  Father,  that  God  may  be  all  in 
all,"  verse  28. 

As  for  that  final  blaze  of  supreme  glory  wherein 
Christ  shall  appear  at  the  day  of  judgment  just  before 
he  resigns  up  his  Idngdom,  and  wliich  perhaps  is  once 
called  his  kingdom.,  2  Tim.  iv.  1.  "  When  he  shall  come 
in  the  glory  of  his  Father  and  of  his  holy  angels  as  well 
as  his  own,"  Mark  viii.  38.  The  sight  of  it  shall  be 
pr.blic  and  common  to  all  the  world,  and  not  any  pecu- 
liar favor  to  the  saints. 

It  seems  therefore  most  probable  that  it  is  only  or 
chiefly  in  the  separate  state  of  souls  departed,  that  the 
saints  have  a  special  promise  of  beholding  this  media- 
torial glory  of  Christ  in  his  kingdom ;  and  this  faA  or 
our  Saviour  entreats  of  his  Father  for  others  that  shall 
believe  on  him,  as  well  as  for  his  apostles. 

I  might  here  take  occasion  to  inquire  whether  every 
text  which  promises  to  other  christians  as  well  as  to  the 
apostles,  a  dwelling  with  Christ  in  Jus  kingdom.,  must 
not  have  a  more  special  reference  to  the  glory  of  the 
separate  state  ;  upon  this  very  account,  because  this  king- 


S5  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

dom  of  Christ  ceases  at  the  resurrection  and  judgment ; 
and  particularly  that  text  in  2  Pet.  i.  11.  ^^  So  an  en- 
trance shall  be  ministered  unto  you  abundantly  into  the 
everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jegus 
Christ :"  which  is  often  in  scripture  called  everlasting 
because  it  continues  to  the  end  of  the  world ;  and  the 
abtmdant  entrance  into  it  very  naturally  refers  to  our 
departure  from  this  life. 

Answer  4.  I  cannot  find  any  text  of  scripture  where 
this  blessing  of  being  present  with  the  Lord  after  death 
in  the  separate  state  is  limited  only  to  the  apostles :  I 
read  not  one  word  of  such  a  peculiar  favor  promised 
them  by  Christ ;  and  therefore,  according  to  the  current 
course  of  several  other  places  of  scripture  which  have 
been  here  produced,  I  am  persuaded  it  belongs  to  all 
true  christians,  unless  the  apostle  in  some  plainer  man- 
ner had  limited  it  to  himself  and  his  twelve  bretliren, 
and  secluded  or  forbid  our  hopes  of  it. 

After  all,  if  it  be  allowed  that  the  apostles  may  enjoy 
the  blessedness  of  a  separate  state  before  the  resurrec- 
tion, then  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  sejmraie  state  of  hap- 
piness for  souls.  This  precludes  at  once  all  the  argu- 
ments against  it  that  arise  from  the  nature  of  things,  and 
from  any  supposed  impropriety  in  such  a  divine  consti- 
tution. And  since  it  is  granted  that  there  are  millions  of 
angels  and  several  human  spirits  in  this  unbodied  state, 
enjoying  happiness,  I  see  no  reason  why  the  rest  of  the 
unbodied  spirits  of  saints  departed  should  not  be  receiv- 
ed to  their  society  after  death,  unless  there  were  some 
particular  scriptures  that  excluded  them  from  it. 

VI.  Phil.  i.  23,  24.  "  For  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt 
two,  having  a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ ; 
which  is  far  better  :  nevertheless,  to  abide  in  the  flesli  is 
mor^  needful  for  you."  When  the  apostle  speaks  here 
of  his  abiding  in  the  flesh,  and  his  departing  from  the 
flesh,  he  declares  the  fli'st  was  more  needful  for  the 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  3^ 

Pliilippians,  to  promote  religion  in  their  hearts  and  lives ; 
but  the  second  would  be  better  for  himself,  for  he  should 
be  with  Christ,  when  he  was  departed  from  the  flesh. 

I  would  only  ask  any  reasonable  man  to  determine 
w  hether  St.  Paul  speaks  of  his  beifig  with  Christ  after 
his  departure  from  the  flesh,  he  can  suppose  that  the 
apostle  did  not  expect  to  see  Christ  till  the  resurrection, 
w^iich  he  knew  would  be  a  considerable  distance  of 
time,  though  perhaps  it  has  proved  many  hundred  years 
longer  than  the  apostle  himself  expected  it  ?  No ;  it  is 
evident  he  hoped  to  he  present  icith  the  Lord  immedi- 
ately as  soon  as  he  was  absent  from  the  body  ;  otherwise, 
as  I  have  hinted  before,  death  to  him  would  have  been 
but  of  little  gain  if  he  must  have  lain  sleeping  till  the 
dead  shall  rise,  and  have  been  cut  oil*  from  his  delightful 
service  for  Christ  in  the  gospel  and  all  the  blessed  com- 
munications of  his  grace.  The  objection  which  may 
arise  here  also  from  supposing  this  to  be  a  peculiar  fa- 
vor granted  to  the  apostles  is  answered  just  before. 

VII.  Heb.  xii.  2S.  "Ye  are  come  to  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the- 
general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born  which  are 
written  (or  registered)  in  heaven,  to  God  the  Judge  of 
all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to 
Jesus  the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant,''  i.  e.  the  gos- 
pel or  the  christian  state  brings  good  men  into  a  nearer 
union  and  communion  with  the  heavenly  world,  antl  tlie 
inhabitants  thereof,  than  the  Jew  ish  state  could  do :  now 
the  inhabitants  of  this  upper  world,  this  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, are  here  reckoned  up,  God  as  the  prime  Lord  or 
head  ;  Jesus  the  mediator  as  the  King  of  his  cluirch  ;  the 
innumerable  company  of  angels  as  ministers  of  his  khig- 
dom  ;  the  general  assembly  of  God's  favorites  or  children 
who  are  called  the  first-born  ;  perhaps  this  may  refer  in 
general  to  all  the  saints  of  all  ages  past  and  to  come 
whose  names  are  written  in  the  book  of  life  in  heaven : 


38  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOl' 

and  particularly  to  the  separate  spirits  of  just  men  who 
are  departed  from  tliis  world,  and  are  made  perfect  in 
the  heavenly  state.  The  criticisms  that  are  used  to  put 
other  senses  upon  these  words  seem  to  carry  tliera  away 
so  far  from  their  more  plain  and  obvious  meaning,  that  I 
can  hardly  think  they  are  the  meaning  of  the  apostle ;  for 
it  would  be  of  very  little  use  for  a  common  christian  to 
read  tiiese  verses  of  divine  consolation  and  grace,  if  he 
could  take  no  comfort  from  tliem  till  lie  had  learnt  those 
critical  and  distant  expositions  of  such  plain  language. 

It  has  been  indeed  objected  against  the  plain  sense  of 
this  text,  that  the  spirits  of  the  just  or  good  men  are  not 
yet  made  perfect  in  heaven,  because  the  same  apostle, 
Heb.  xi.  39,  40,  says,  ^^  These  all,"  i.  e.  the  saints  of 
the  Old  Testament,  "having  obtained  a  good  report 
through  faitli,  received  not  the  promises,  God  having 
provided  some  better  things  for  us,  that  they  without  us 
should  not  be  made  perfect."  Now  these  had  been  dead 
for  many  generations,  yet  tliey  received  not  the  promises 
nor  were  made  perfect.     Thus  saith  the  objection. 

But  the  evident  meaning  of  this  text  is,  that  they 
lived  and  died  in  the  faith  of  many  promises,  some  of 
which  were  to  be  fulfilled  after  their  days  here  on  earth, 
but  were  not  fulfilled  in  their  life  time.  They  did  not 
enjoy  the  privileges  and  blessings  of  the  gospel  of  the 
Messiah,  in  that  perfect  manner  in  which  we  do,  since 
the  Messiah  is  actually  come,  and  has  fulfilled  these 
promises  ;  and  by  his  death,  or  offering  himself  as  the 
same  apostle  expresses  it,  for  ever  j)erfected  them  that 
are  sanctijied,  Heb.  x.  14.  But  all  this  does  by  no 
means  preclude  their  existence  and  happiness  in  a  sep- 
arate state  as  spirits  made  perfect,  i.  e.  in  a  perfect  free- 
dom from  all  sin  and  sorrow  ;  thougli  it  is  proba1)le  tliis 
very  state  of  comparative  perfection  might  have  several 
degrees  of  joy  added  to  it  at  the  ascension  of  Christ,  and 
will  have  manv  more  at  the  resurrection  from  the  dead. 


i 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  30 

VIll.  2  Pet.  i,  13.  '•  I  think  it  meet,  as  long  as  I  am 
in  this  tabernacle,  to  stir  you  up,  by  putting  you  in  re- 
membrance ;  knowhig  that  shortly  I  must  put  off  this 
my  tabernacle."  Here  it  is  evident,  that  the  person 
who  thinks  it  meet  to  stir  np  christians  to  their  duty,  has 
a  tabernacle  belonging  to  him,  and  which  he  must  sJiortly 
put  off.  The  soul,  or  thinJcing  principle  of  the  apostle 
Peter,  which  is  here  supposed  to  be  himself,  is  so  plain- 
ly distinguished  from  the  tabernacle  of  the  body  in  which 
he  dwelt  for  a  season,  and  which  he  must  put  off  shortly, 
that  most  evidently  implies  an  existence  of  this  thinking 
soul  very  distinct  from  tlie  body,  and  which  will  exist 
when  the  body  is  laid  aside.  Surely  the  conscious  being 
and  its  tabernacle  or  dwelling  place,  are  two  very  dis- 
tinct things,  and  the  conscious  being  exists  when  he  puts 
off  his  present  dwelling. 

After  all  these  arguments  from  scripture,  may  I  be 
permitted  to  mention  one  which  is  derived  partly  from 
reason,  and  partly  from  the  sacred  records,  which  seems 
to  carry  some  weight  with  it. 

The  doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments  in  a  sepa- 
rate state  of  souls,  hath  been  one  of  the  very  chief  prin- 
ciples or  motives  whereby  virtue  and  religion  have  been 
maintained  in  this  sinful  world  throughout  all  former 
ages  and  nations,  and  under  the  several  dispensations  of 
Grod  among  men,  till  the  resurrection  of  the  body  was 
fully  revealed.  Now,  it  is  scarce  to  be  supposed  that 
such  a  doctrine,  which  God,  in  the  course  of  his  prov- 
idence, hath  made  use  of  as  a  chief  principle  and  motive 
of  religion  and  virtue,  tlirough  all  the  world  which  had 
any  true  virtue,  and  in  all  ages  before  Christianity, 
should  be  a  false  doctrine.  Let  us  prove  the  first  prop- 
osition by  a  view  of  the  several  ages  of  mankind,  and 
dispensations  of  religion. 

The  heathens,  who  have  liad  nothing  else  but  the  light 
of  nature  to  giude  them,  could  have  no  notion  at  all  ot 


40  ESS4Y  TOWARD  THTri  PROOF 

the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  and  therefore,  not  only  the 
wisest  and  best  of  them,  but  perhaps  the  bulk  of  man- 
kind among  the  Gentiles,  at  least  in  Europe  and  Asia, 
if  not  in  Africa  and  America  also,  who  have  been  taught 
by  priests,  and  poets,  and  the  public  opinions  of  their 
nation,  and  traditions  of  their  ancestors,  have  generally 
supposed  such  a  separate  state  after  this  life,  wherein 
their  souls  should  be  rewarded  or  punished,  except  where 
the  fancy  of  transmigration  prevailed  ;  and  even  these 
very  transmigrations  into  other  bodies,  viz.  of  dogs,  or 
horses,  or  men,  were  assigned  as  speedy  rewards  or  pun- 
ishments of  their  behavior  in  this  life. 

Now,  though  this  doctrine  of  immediate  recompences 
could  not  be  proved  by  them  with  certainty  and  clear- 
ness, and  had  many  follies  mingled  witli  it,  yet  the  prob- 
able expectation  of  it,  so  far  as  it  liath  obtained  among 
men,  hath  a  good  degree  of  influence  through  the  conduct 
of  common  providence,  to  keep  the  world  in  some  toler- 
able order,  and  prevent  universal  irregularities  and  ex- 
cesses of  the  highest  degree ;  it  hath  had  some  force  on 
the  conscience  to  restrain  the  enormous  wickedness  of 
men. 

The  patriarchs  of  the  first  ages,  wliose  history  is  re- 
lated in  scripture,  had  no  notion  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  expressly  revealed  to  them,  tliat  we  can  find ; 
and  it  must  be  the  hope  of  such  a  state  of  recompence  of 
their  souls  after  death,  that  influenced  their  practice  of 
piety,  if  they  were  not  informed  that  tlieir  bodies  should 
rise  again. 

Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  had  no  plain  and  distinct 
promise  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  yet  it  is  said, 
Heb.  xi.  14.  '*  They  received  the  promises,"  that  is,  of 
some  future  happiness,  '•^  and  embraced  them  ;  and  con- 
fessed they  were  strangers  and  pilgi'ims  on  the  eartii ; 
whereby  they  plainly  declared,  that  tliey  souglit  some 
other  country,  i.  e.  an  heavenly  ;  and  God  hath  prepared 


OF   A    SEPARATE    STATE.  40 

a  city  for  tliem."  What  city,  what  heavenly  country  can 
tliis  be,  which  they  themselves  sought  after,  but  the  city 
or  country  of  separate  souls  or  paradise,  where  good  men 
ai*e  rewarded,  and  God  is  their  God,  if  they  had  no  plain 
promises  or  views  of  a  resurrection  of  the  body  ?  And 
indeed  they  had  need  of  a  very  plain  and  express  prom- 
ise of  such  a  resurrection,  to  encourage  their  faith  and 
obedience,  if  they  had  no  notion  or  belief  of  a  separate 
state,  or  a  heavenly  country^  whither  their  souls  should 
go  at  their  death. 

Job  seems  to  have  some  bright  glimpses  of  resurrec- 
tion in  chap,  xixth  ;  but  this  was  far  above  the  level  of 
the  dispensation  wherein  he  lived,  and  a  peculiar  and 
distinguishing  favor  granted  to  him  under  bis  uncommon 
and  peculiar  sufferings. 

In  the  institution  of  the  Jewish  religion  by  Mases, 
there  is  no  express  mention  of  a  resurrection,  and  we 
must  suppose  their  hope  of  a  future  state  was  chiefly 
such  as  they  could  gain  from  the  light  of  nature,  and 
learn  by  traditions  from  their  fathers,  or  from  unwritten 
instructions.  For  though  our  Saviour  improves  the 
words  of  God  to  Moses  in  the  bush,/*'  I  am  the  God  of 
Abraham,"  &c.  so  far  as  to  prove  a  resurrection  from 
them  ;  yet  we  can  hardly  suppose  the  Israelites  could 
carry  it  any  further,  than  merely  to  the  happiness  of 
Abraham's  soul,  &c.  in  some  separate  state  ;  and  thence 
came  the  notion  of  departed  souls  of  good  men  going  to 
the- bosom  of  Abraham. 

I  grant  that  David  in  his  Psalms,  Isaiah  and  Daniel 
in  their  prophecies,  have  some  hints  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  ;  but  this  doth  not  seem  to  have  been  the 
common  principle  or  support  of  virtue  and  goodness,  or 
a  general  article  of  belief  among  the  Jews  in  the  early 
ages. 

In  the  days  of  the  later  prophets,  and  after  their  re- 
turn from  Babylon^  I  confess  the  Jews  had  some  notions 
6 


4:2  ESSAY   TOWARD    THE    PROOF 

of  a  resurrection ;  but  they  also  retained  their  bpinion 
of  the  righteous  souls  being  at  rest  with  God  in  a  sep- 
arate state  before  the  resurrection.  See  the  book  of 
Wisdom,  chap.  iii.  1,  2,  3,  4,  "  The  souls  of  the  riglit- 
eous  are  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  there  shall  no  torment 
touch  them.  In  the  sight  of  the  unwise,  they  seemed  to 
die  ;  and  their  departure  is  taken  for  misery,  and  their 
going  from  us  to  be  utter  destruction  ;  but  tliey  are  in 
peace  ;  for  though  they  be  perished  in  the  sight  of  men, 
yet  is  their  hope  full  of  immortality  ;"  and  iv.  7- 
"  Though  the  rigliteous  be  prevented  with  death,  yet 
they  shall  be  in  rest." 

That  this  was  the  most  common  doctrine  of  the  Jewsj, 
except  the  Sadducees  and  their  followers,  in  our  Sa- 
viour's time,  and  that  it  was  the  doctrine  of  the  prim- 
itive christians  also,  need  not  be  proved  here  ;  though 
they  also  had  the  expectation  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body. 

Now,  if  this  be  the  chief  or  only  doctrine  whicli  men 
could  attain  to  under  the  dispensation  of  natural  reason, 
as  the  most  powerful  motive  to  virtue  and  piety  ;  if  this 
be  the  cliiefest  doctrine  of  that  kind  that  we  know  of, 
whicli  the  patriarchs  and  primitive  Jews  enjoyed  ;  if 
this  also  be  a  constant  doctrine  of  later  Jews,  i.  e.  the 
wisest  and  best  of  them  ;  and  also  of  tlie  primitive  chris- 
tians, which  had  so  much  influence  on  the  good  behav- 
ior  of  all  of  them  toward  God  and  men  ;  and  by  which 
God  carried  on  his  work  of  piety  in  their  hearts  and 
lives  ;  and  by  which  also  he  imprest  the  consciences  of 
evil  men  in  some  measure,  and  restrained  them  from 
their  utmost  excesses  of  vice  and  wickedness,  is  it  not 
hard  to  be  supposed  that  this  doctrine  is  all  mere  fancy 
and  delusion,  and  hath  nothing  of  truth  in  it  ?  And 
indeed,  if  this  doctrine  had  been  taken  away,  the 
heathens  would  be  left  without  any  possible  tnie  notion 
of  a  future  state  of  recompence ;  and  the  patriarchs  seem 


OF   A    SEPARATE    STATE.  43 

to  have  liad  no  suflBcient  principle  or  motive  to  virtue 
and  piety  left  them  ;  and  the  principles  and  motives  of 
goodness  in  the  following  ages  among  Jews  and  chris- 
tians, liad  been  greatly  diminished  and  enfeebled. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  chapter,  I  cannot  help  taking 
notice,  though  I  shall  but  just  mention  it,  that  the 
multitude  of  narratives  which  we  have  heard  of  in  all 
ages  of  the  apparition  of  the  spirits  or  ghosts  of  persons 
departed  from  this  life,  can  hardly  be  all  delusion  and 
falsehood.  Some  of  them  have  been  affirmed  to  appear 
upon  such  great  and  important  occasions,  as  may  be 
equal  to  such  an  unusual  event.  And  several  of  these 
accounts  have  been  attested  by  such  witnesses  of  wis- 
dom, and  prudence,  and  sagacity,  under  no  distempers 
of  imagination,  that  they  may  justly  demand  a  belief. 
And  the  eifects  of  these  apparitions  in  the  discovery  of 
murthers  and  things  unknown,  have  been  so  consider- 
able and  useful,  that  a  fair  disputant  should  hardly 
venture  to  run  directly  counter  to  such  a  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses, without  some  good  assurance  on  the  contrary 
side.  He  must  be  a  shrev»^d  philosopher  indeed,  who, 
tipon  any  other  hypothesis^  can  give  a  tolerable  account 
of  all  the  narratives  in  GlanvilPs  Sadducismus  Trium- 
phatus,  or  Baxter's  World  of  Spirits  and  Apparilions, 
&c.  Though  I  will  grant  some  of  these  stories  have 
but  insufficient  proof,  yet,  if  there  be  but  one  real  appa- 
rition of  a  departed  spirit,  then  the  point  is  gained,  that 
there  is  a  separate  state. 

And  indeed,  the  scripture  itself  seems  to  mention  such 
sort  of  ghosts  or  appearnces  of  souls  departed.  Matt.  xiv. 
26.  When  the  disciples  saw  Jesus  walking  on  the 
water,  they  thought  it  had  been  a  spirit.  And  Luke 
xxiv.  36.  After  his  resurrection,  they  saw  him  at  once 
appearing  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  a??<Z  they  supposed  they 
had  seen  a  spirit.  And  our  Savioar  doth  not  contradict 
their  notion  ;  but  argues  with  them  upon  the  supposition 


44  ESSAY    TOWARD   THE   PROOF 

of  the  truth  of  it.  "  A  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as 
ye  see  me  to  have.  And  Acts  xxiii.  8,  9.  The  word 
spirit  seems  to  signify  the  apparition  of  a  departed  soul, 
where  it  is  said  the  Sadducees  say,  "  There  is  no  res- 
urrection, neither  angel  nor  spirit."  And  verse  9.  "  If 
a  spirit  or  an  angel  hath  spoken  to  this  man,"'  &c.  ,3. 
spirit  here  is  plainly  distinct  from  an  angel  ;  and  what 
can  it  mean  but  an  apparition  of  a  human  soul  which  has 
left  the  body  ? 


SECTION  IV. 

OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 

HAVINGr  pointed  out  so  many  springs  of  argu- 
ment to  support  this  doctrine,  from  the  word  of  God,  as 
well  as  from  reason  and  tradition,  I  proceed  now  to  an- 
swer some  particular  objections  which  are  raised  against 
it. 

Object.  I.  The  scripture  is  so  far  ft'om  supposing  that 
the  soul  of  man  is  immortal,  or  that  there  is  any  such 
thing  as  the  life  of  the  soul  continuing  after  the  death 
of  tlie  body,  that  it  often  speaks  of  tlie  death  of  the  soul, 
if  the  words  were  translated  exactly  according  to  the 
original.  Numbers  xxxi.  19.  "Whosoever  hath  killed 
any  person,''  Heb.  any  soul,  1  Sam.  xxii.  22.  "  I  have 
occasioned  the  death  of  every  soul  of  thy  father's  house." 
Judges  xvi.  30.  "  And  Samson  said,  let  my  soul  die 
with  the  Philistines."  Ezekiel  xviii.  20.  "  The  soul 
that  sinueth  it  shall  die."  Psalm  Ixxxix.  48.  "  What 
man  is  he  that  liveth  and  shall  not  see  death  ?  shall  he 
deliver  his  soul  from  the  hand  of  the  grave  ?"     1  Kings 


xix.  4.    "  Elijah  requested  for  himself  that  he  might 
die  ;"  Heb.  that   his  soul  might  die. 
Ans.  The  word  soul  in  EngUsH,  nephesh  in  HebreW;, 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  45 

jpsyche  in  Grreekj  and  amma  in  Latin,  &c.  signifies  not 
only  the  conscious  and  active  principle  in  man,  which 
thinks  and  reasons,  loves  and  hates,  hopes  and  fears, 
and  which  is  the  proper  agent  in  virtue  or  vice  ;  but  it 
is  used  also  to  signify  the  principle  of  animal  life  and 
motion  in  a  living  creature.  And,  though  these  two  in 
themselves  are  very  distinct  things,  yet  upon  this  ac- 
count, the  word  soul  is  attributed  to  brutes  as  well  as  to 
men  ;  for  the  Jews  as  well  as  some  heathens,  in  their 
mistaken  philosophy,  supposed  the  same  soul  of  man, 
which  gives  natural  life  to  the  body,  to  be  also  that 
very  intellectual  principle,  which  thinks  and  reasons, 
fears  and  loves  ;  and  upon  this  account,  they  gave  both 
these  principles,  how  distinct  soever  in  themselves,  one 
common  name,  and  called  them  the  soul. 

Now,  the  sold  or  the  principle  of  animal  life  and 
motion,  being  the  chief  or  the  most  valuable  thing  in  an 
animal,  it  came  to  pass  that  the  whole  animal  was  called 
2lsouI  ;  therefore,  even  birds  and  fishes  are  called  living 
souls,  Gen.  i.  20  ;  and  any  animals  whatsoever  in  scrip- 
ture are  called  souls  or  living  souls.  And  then,  for  the 
same  reason,  i.  e.  because  the  soul  of  man  is  his  chief 
part,  the  whole  person  of  man  is  called  Ids  soul,  Gen. 
ii.  7*  "  Man  became  a  living  soul,"  i.  e.  a  living  person. 
So  Exod.  i.  5.  "  All  the  souls  that  came  out  of  the  loins 
of  Jacob  were  seventy  souls,"  i.  e.  all  the  persons  were 
seventy. 

And  this  is  not  only  the  language  of  the  Jews,  but 
even  of  other  nations.  In  our  country,  we  use  the  word 
souls  to  signify  jpersons.  So  we  say  a  poor  soul,  when 
we  see  a  person  in  misery  ;  we  use  the  w(»rd  a  meagre 
soul  for  a  thin  man  ;  we  say,  there  were  tieenty  souls 
lost  in  the  ship,  i.  e.  twenty  persons,  &c. 

Now,  the  word  soul  among  the  Jews  being  so  uni- 
versally used  to  signify  the  person  of  man,  they  used 
the  same  word  to  signify  the  person,  when  he  was  dead 


46  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

as  well  as  when  he  was  alive.  Numb.  vi.  6.  He  shall 
come  at  no  dead  body^  in  the  Hebr.  no  dead  soul,  i.  e.  uo 
dead  man  or  woman,  or  perhaps  no  dead  animal. 

Since  the  word  soul  is  taken  so  often  and  so  common- 
ly to  signify  the  person  of  a  man  or  woman,  no  wonder 
that  there  is  so  frequent  mention  of  souls  dying  in  the 
scripture,  when  human  persons  die. 

And  if  the  soul  signify  a  man  or  woman  when  they 
are  dead  as  well  as  when  living,  here  is  a  fair  account 
why  the  scriptures  may  speak  of  the  "  souls  going  down 
to  the  grave,"  or  being  delivered  from  the  grave,  8^c. 
Psal.  Ixxxix.  48.  ^^  Shall  he  deliver  his  soul  from  the 
hand  of  the  grave  ?"  This  may  either  denote  his  prin- 
ciple of  animal  life,  or  his  person,  i.  e.  himself. 

Now  tliis  account  of  things  is  very  consistent  with  the 
scriptural  doctrine  of  the  distinction  of  the  intelligent  soul 
of  man  from  his  body,  and  the  intelligent  souVs  survival 
of  the  body,  nor  do  any  of  these  scriptural  expressions 
concerning  the  soul  forbid  this  supposition.  For  though 
in  some  places,  the  word  soul  signifies  the  ])erson  of  the 
man  or  his  body,  or  tliat  animal  principle  which  may 
die,  yet  in  other  places  it  signifies  that  intelligent  or 
thinking  principle  which  cannot  die,  as  we  have  before 
proved  where  our  Saviour  tells  us,  we  should  not  fear 
them  that  kill  the  body,  but  cannot  kill  the  soul.  Where- 
soever the  scripture  speaks  of  a  souls  being  killed,  it 
only  means  that  the  jperson  who  was  mortal  is  slain,  i.  e. 
the  life  of  the  body  is  destroyed,  and  the  man  considered 
as  a  compound  being  made  up  of  soul  and  body  is  in 
some  sense  dissolved  when  one  part  of  the  composition 
dies.  But  where  the  soul  signifies  the  intellectual  prin- 
ciple in  man,  it  is  never  said  to  die,  unless  when  the 
word  death  means  a  loss  of  liappiness,  or  living  in 
misery ;  but  this  implies  natural  life  still,  for  this  soul 
cannot  naturally  be  desti'oyed  by  any  power  but  that 
which  made  it. 


OF  A  Separate  state.  47 

If  any  person  object  that  the  apostle  in  Acts  ii.  31. 
saysjfAe  soul  of  Christ  ivas  not  left  in  hell,  or  the  grave; 
for  so  the  word  in  the  Hebrew  may  signify,  Psalm  xvi. 
10.  whence  this  is  cited ;  there  is  a  sufficient  answer  to 
be  given  to  this  two  or  three  ways.  It  may  be  construed, 
that  the  principle  of  the  animal  life  of  Christ  was  not 
left  to  continue  in  death  ;  or  that  the  person  of  the  man 
Jesus  was  not  left  in  death  or  the  grave,  the  body  being 
sometimes  put  for  the  person  ;  or  it  may  be  as  well  con- 
strued, that  the  spirit  of  Clirist,  or  his  intellectual  soul 
was  not  left  in  the  state  of  the  dead,  or  of  separation 
from  the  body,  which  the  word  sheol  in  the  Hebrew,  and 
ctdviQ  in  the  Greek  signify. 

Here  it  may  be  observed  also,  that  the  word  which 
signify  spirit,  riiach,  fneuma,  spiritus,  in  Hebrew, 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  other  languages,  is  used  some- 
times for  air  or  breath,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
principle  of  life  to  the  animal  body ;  and  sometimes  it 
signifies  the  intellectual  soul,  the  conscious  and  active 
principle  in  man  ;  and  therefore  whatsoever  may  be  said 
of  the  spirWs  dying  or  being  lost,  is  no  proof  that  the 
conscious  principle  in  man  dies,  which  is  a  very  diffe- 
rent thing  from  breath  or  air. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said  here,  does  not  Moses  suppose 
breath  to  be  the  soul  or  spirit  in  man,  when  he  says, 
Gen.  ii.  7-  God  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul. 

I  answer,  it  is  evident  that  Moses  makes  a  plain  dif- 
ference between  God's  formation  of  man  and  brutes,  for 
he  makes  no  distinction  between  their  soul  and  body  in 
their  creation ;  but  he  distinguishes  the  soul  from  the 
body  of  man,  in  his  creation,  speaking  according  to  the 
common  language  and  philosophy  of  that  age  as  tliougli 
the  soul  were  in  the  breath.  Nor  was  it  proper  to  speak 
in  strict  philosophical  language  to  those  ignorant  peo- 
ple ;  nor  were  the  modes  of  expression  in  the  Bible  so 


48  ESSAY    TOWARD    THK    PROOF 

peculiarly  formed  to  teach  us  philosophy   as  religion. 

Eut  of  t'lis  distinction  between  the  soul  of  a  brute,  and 
the  soul  of  a  man,  there  seems  to  he  a  plain  intimation 
given  by  Solomon  in  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  chap.  iii. 
2i.  ^^  Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  man  that  goeth  upward, 
and  the  spirit  of  a  beast  that  goeth  downward  to  the 
earth?"  that  the  spirit  of  man,  i.  e.  his  conscious  and 
intellectual  principle  goeth  upward,  or  survives  at  the 
death  of  the  body,  but  the  spirit  of  the  beast,  i.  e.  the 
spring  of  its  animal  life,  goeth  down  to  the  earth,  is  min- 
gled witli  tlie  common  elements  of  this  material  world 
and  entirely  lost. 

But  the  wise  man  in  this  place  perhaps  expresses  some 
of  his  former  atheistical  doubts,  saying,  who  knows 
whether  there  is  any  difference  betAveen  them?  yet  it  in- 
timates thus  much,  that  men  who  pretended  to  wisdom 
in  that  age,  supposed  such  a  difference  between  the  spirit 
of  man  and  the  spirit  of  a  brute. 

Object.  II.  Is  taken  frojn  Psal.  vi.  5.  "In  death  there 
is  no  remembrance  of  thee ;  in  the  grave  who  shall  give 
thee  thanks?  and  Psal.  cxlvi.  4.  "'His  breath  goeth 
foriii,  he  rcturneth  to  his  earth :  in  that  very  day  liis 
thoughts  perish.''  And  Eccles.  ix.  5.  "The  living  know 
tliat  they  shall  die,  but  the  dead  know  not  any  thing.'' 
From  all  which  words  some  would  infer  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  separate  state  of  souls. 

Answ.  Both  David  and  his  son  Solomon  exclude  all 
such  sort  of  thoughts  and  actions,  both  religious  and 
civil,  from  the  state  of  death  as  are  practised  in  this  life, 
all  the  pursuits  of  their  present  purposes,  their  present 
way  and  manner  of  divine  worship,  and  their  manage- 
ment or  consciousness  of  human  affairs  :  but  they  do 
not  exclude  all  manner  of  consciousness,  knowledge, 
thought  or  action,  such  as  may  be  suited  to  the  invisible 
state  of  spirits.  The  design  of  the  writers  in  those  pla- 
ces of  scripture  require  uo  more  than  this,  and  there- 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  40 

fore  die  words  cannot  be  construed  to  any  further  sense, 
or  to  exclude  the  conscious  and  active  powers  of  a  sepa- 
rate spirit  from  their  proper  exercise  in  that  invisible 
world,  though  they  have  done  with  all  their  actions  in 
the  present  visible  state. 

Object.  III.  Is  taken  from  John  xiv.  3.  "If  I  go  and 
prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again  and  receive 
you  to  myself,  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also  j" 
which  seems  to  determine  the  point,  that  the  followers 
of  Christ  were  not  to  be  present  with  him  until  he  came 
again  to  this  world  to  raise  the  dead,  and  to  take  his 
disciples  to  dwell  with  him. 

S.nsw.  1.  It  hath  been  already  granted  by  some  per- 
sons who  doubt  of  the  separate  state  of  all  souls,  that 
the  apostles  had  tliis  special  favor  allowed  them  to  be 
received  into  the  presence  of  Christ  when  they  depart- 
ed from  this  body.  Now  these  words  were  spoken  to 
the  apostles,  and  therefore  they  cannot  preclude  this 
privilege  which  they  expected,  viz.  that  wlien  they 
were  absent  from  the  body,  they  should  be  present  ivith, 
the  Lord,  2  Cor.  v.  8. 

Jinsw.  2.  Christ  came  again  to  his  disciples  at  his 
own  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  taught  them  the 
things  of  the  other  world,  and  better  prepared  them  for 
the  happiness  of  heaven  and  his  own  presence.  He 
came  again  also  by  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  state, 
and  called  his  own  people  thence  before-hand,  as  au 
emblem  of  their  salvation,  when  the  world  should  be  de- 
stroyed. He  also  came  again  at  their  death  ;  when  he 
that  hath  the  keys  of  death  and  the  invisible  world  let 
them  out  of  the  prison  of  the  body  into  the  separate  state, 
that  they  might  dwell  with  him.  The  coming  of  Christ 
has  many  and  various  senses  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  need  not  be  referred  only  to  his  coming  at  the  day 
of  judgment. 

»i.nsiv.  3.  But  suppose  in  this  place  the  words  of 
7 


50  KSSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

Christ  be  construed  concerniDg  his  great  and  public 
coming  to  raise  the  dead  and  judge  the  world.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  iu  that  day,  the  disciples  shall  be  received  to 
dwell  with  him  in  a  much  more  complete  and  glorious 
manner,  when  both  soul  and  body  shall  be  made  the  in- 
habitants of  heaven.  But  this  does  not  preclude  or  for- 
bid that  the  separate  souls  of  his  followers  should  be 
favored  with  his  presence  in  paradise  before  his  public 
coming  to  judge  the  world.  Though  the  last  and  great- 
est blessing  be  only  mentioned  here,  it  does  not  exclude 
the  former. 

Object.  IV.  St.  Paul,  in  Phil.  iii.  10,  11.  says,  that 
he  desired  ^^  to  know  Christ  and  the  power  of  his  resur- 
rection, &c.  if  by  any  means  he  miglit  attain  to  the  res- 
urrection of  the  dead."  Now  what  need  had  the  apostle 
to  be  so  solicitous  about  the  resurrection,  if  he  expected 
to  be  \Yith  Christ  immediately  upon  liis  death,  since 
being  with  Christ  is  the  state  of  ultimate  happiness  ? 

Answ.  1.  Some  learned  men  suppose  that  the  apostle 
here  presses  after  some  peculiar  exaltations  of  piety  in 
this  world,  and  after  an  interest  in  some  first  resurrec- 
tion, or  resurrection  of  the  martyrs  and  most  eminent 
saints,  which  would  be  long  before  the  general  resur- 
rection of  all  the  dead,  according  to  the  visions  of  St. 
John,  Rev.  xx.  4 — ^.  But  as  I  am  not  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  sense  of  that  prophecy  to  determine 
my  opinion  on  this  side,  I  proceed  to  other  an- 
swers. 

Answ.  2.  What  if  the  words  of  St.  Paul  in  this  place 
to  the  Philippians,  should  mean  no  more  than  this,  as 
ver.  13,  l^.  ^»  I  forgot  tlie  things  that  are  behind,''  as 
though  I  had  gained  so  little  already  as  not  to  be  worth 
my  notice ;  and  I  reach  forth  unto  those  things  which 
are  before,  i.  e,  furtlier  degrees  of  holiness  to  be  obtain- 
ed, pressing  towards  the  mark  of  perfection,  if  by  any 
means  I  might  be  made  so  conformable  to  the  death  of 


OP  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  51 

Christ,  as  to  be  entirely  dead  to  sin  ;  and  if  by  any  means 
I  might  attain  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  i.  e.  to 
such  a  perfection  of  holiness  as  is  represented  by  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  Rom.  vi.  or  as  that  in  which  the 
dead  saints  shall  be  raised  ;  for  I  know  /  have  not  al- 
ready attained  it,  nor  am  already  perfect. 

Answ.  3.  Suppose  the  soul  of  St.  Paul  to  be  present 
with  Clu'ist  after  death  in  heaven  in  the  separate  state ; 
yet  this  is  not  the  ultimate  or  highest  happiness  of  the 
saints,  and  therefore  he  aimed  at  something  higher  and 
further,  namely,  the  more  complete  happiness  which  he 
should  enjoy  at  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

Object.  V.  Is  borrowed  from  several  verses  of  1  Cor. 
XV.  where  the  apostle  is  imagined  to  argue  thus,   ^^If 
there  be  no  resurrection  of  the  dead,"  ver.  18.  ^^Then 
they  which  are  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are  perished,"  ver. 
19.  Then  we  have  hope  only  in  this  life,  and   nothing 
else  to  support  us.     Then  ver.  33.   What  advantage  do 
I  get  by  all  my  suiferings  for  Christ,  if  the  dead  rise  not  ? 
We  had  better  comply  with  the  appetites  of  the  flesh,  and 
enjoy  a  merry  life  here.    Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to- 
morrow ive  die  ;  whereby  it  is  evident  that  the  apostle 
places  the  blessed  expectation  of  those  that  are  fallen 
asleep  in  Christ,  only  and  entirely  upon  their   being 
raised  from  the  dead ;  which  he  would  not  have  done  if 
there  had  been  such  a  separate  state :  he  extends  our 
hope  in  Christ  beyond  this  life,  and  raises  his  own  ex- 
pectations of  advantage  or  reward  for  his  sujfferings  on 
the  account  of  the  gospel,  entirely  and  only  upon  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  having  no  notion  of  any  happi- 
ness in  a  separate  state  of  souls  :  for  if  he  had  any  such 
opinion  or  hope,  this  expectation  of  the  happiness  of  the 
soul  in  a  separate  state,  might  have  been  a  sufficient 
proof  that  those  who  died  or  slept  in  the  faith  of  Christ, 
are  not  perished  ;  and  he  had  abundant  reward  for  his 


B2  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

sufferings  in  that  world  of  separate  souls  without  the 
resurrection  of  tlie  body. 

tlnsw.  1.  It  must  be  granted  that  the  scripture,  in  or- 
der to  support  christians  under  present  trials,  chiefly 
refers  them  to  the  day  of  the  resurrection  and  final  judg- 
ment, as  the  great  and  chief  season  of  retribution.  The 
reason  of  this  will  appear  under  my  answer  to  a  follow- 
ing objection.  Now  the  apostle  may  be  supposed  to  ar- 
gue here  only  on  this  foot,  neglecting  or  overlooking  the 
separate  state,  as  though  this  final  retribution  at,  and 
after  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  were  comparatively 
the  whole  ;  because  it  is  far  the  chief  and  most  consider- 
able part,  being  much  the  most  sensible  and  conspicuous, 
and  of  the  longest  duration.  The  chief  part  of  any 
thing  is  often  taken  for  the  whole.  And  if  there  were  no 
resuiTection  of  the  dead,  i.  e.  if  there  Avere  no  state  of 
retribution  at  all,  then  the  Epicurean  reasoning  would 
be  good.  Let  us  eat  and  drink  for  to-morrow  we  die. 

And  to  confirm  this  exposition,  we  may  take  notice, 
that  in  other  places  of  scripture,  where  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  is  mentioned,  this  anastasis  includes  the 
whole  state  of  existence  after  deatli,  both  the  separate 
and  the  resurrection  state.  This  seems  to  be  the  sense  of 
it  in  that  famous  place,  Luke  xx.  35.  where  Christ 
argues  with  the  Sadducees,  who  denied  the  separate  state 
as  well  as  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  Now  if  you  take 
away  this  anastasis,  this  whole  state  of  existence  and 
retribution,  then  they  that  suffer  for  Christ  have  no  ad- 
vantage or  recompence  ;  and  i\m  Epicurean  doctrine  is 
plainly  preferable,  at  least  in  the  common  sense  and 
reasoning  of  men,  and  in  such  seasons  of  trial  and  per- 
secution. 

Nor  is  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  there  might  be 
some  of  these  principles  of  Sadducism  begun  to  he  in- 
stilled into  some  of  the  Corinthians,  viz.  that  there  were 
no  rewards  and  punishments  at  all  in  any  fature  state  ; 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  53 

for  he  tells  them,  ver.  34.  that  some  of  them  had  not  the 
knowledge  of  God,  i.  e.  as  a  righteous  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  him  .•  I  speak  this,  says  he,  to  your 
shame.  And  ver.  5,  8.  he  encourages  them  to  be 
stedfast  and  unmoveable,  alicays  abounding  in  the  work 
of  the  Lor d^  for  as  much  as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not 
in  vain  in  the  Lord  ;  i.  e.  there  is  certainly  a  future  state 
of  recompence  for  piety  ;  and  the  discovery  of  it  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  is  the  most  public  and  glorious 
part  of  it ;  and  therefore  he  insists  upon  this  alone. 

Answ.  2.  But  we  may  give  yet  a  more  particular  an- 
swer to  this  objection :  for  if  we  take  in  the  whole 
scheme  of  the  apostle's  argument  in  this  chapter,  we 
shall  find  there  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  this  objection 
against  a  separate  state.  He  begins,  ver.  12,  13,  &c. 
and  argues  tluis  :  If  there  be  no  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
then  Christ  is  not  risen  ;  for  he  rose  as  the  first  fruHsj 
and  his  followers  shall  be  the  harvest,  ver.  !23.  But  if  there 
be  no  harvest,  there  were  no  first  fruits  :  and  '^^  if  Christ 
be  not  risen,  then  our  preaching  is  vain,  and  your  faitli 
is  vain  ;"  ver.  14.  "  Then  we  are  found  false  witnesses 
in  matters  that  relate  to  God,''  ver.  15.  mere  imposters, 
who  preach  a  wicked  falsehood,  and  lead  you  to  hope 
for  a  happiness  wliich  ye  shall  never  obtain  ;  for  if 
Christy  who  died  for  our  sins,  ver.  3.  be  not  raised  for 
our  justification,  as  in  Rom.  iv.  ult.  then  are  ye  yet  in 
your  sins  ;  ye  lie  yet  under  the  guilt  of  sin ;  and  if  so*, 
then  also  they  which  are  fallen  asleejj  in  ChiHst,  or  have 
died  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  are  perished,  ver.  18.  They 
must  either  be  condemned,  or  be  utterly  lost,  both  soul 
and  body,  having  no  ground  for  hope  of  eternal  life,  or 
any  life  or  happiness  at  all  hereafter.  Then  the  hope  of 
christians  ivould  he  in  this  life  only  ;  and  we  are  miser- 
able creatures  who  suifer  so  much  for  Christ's  sake,  ver. 
19.  It  would  be  better  for  us  who  have  senses  and  ap- 
petites, as  well  as  other  men,  to  indulge  these  senses  and 


54  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOl 

appetites,  and  eat  and  driiik,for  to-morrow  we  die,  and 
there  is  an  end  of  us.  There  can  be  no  future  state  of 
happiness  of  any  kind  for  us  to  expect,  either  in  soul  or 
body,  if  we  have  deceived  you  in  the  doctrine  of  the  re- 
surrection of  Christ,  and  all  our  gospel  be  false.  We  are 
then  such  sort  of  imposters  and  wicked  cheats  as  can 
Lave  no  belief  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, and  we  had  better  act  like  ourselves,  and  like 
mere  Epicureans,  give  ourselves  up  to  all  present  plea- 
sures, than  expose  ourselves  to  perpetual  sufleriugs  for 
the  sake  of  a  man,  who  (if  there  be  no  resurrection)  died 
and  never  rose  again,  and  therefore  cannot  make  us  any 
recompence.  Now  this  sort  of  arguing  does  not  at  all  pre- 
clude the  separate  state  of  happiness,  but  rather  establish  it. 
I  might  add  here  a  further  answer  to  this  objection, 
viz.  the  apostle  is  representing  the  sufferings  of  the  body 
for  Christ's  sake,  ver.  30,  31,  32.  and  therefore  he 
thinks  it  proper  to  encourage  christians  with  the  recom- 
pence  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  without  taking  any 
particular  notice  of  the  happiness  of  the  separate  state  of 
the  soul :  and  in  this  view  of  things  his  argument  stands 
good.  If  there  be  no  resurrection  of  the  body,  there  is 
no  recompence  for  sufferings  in  the  body.  Let  us  then 
give  the  body  its  pleaures  of  sense.  Let  us  eat  and  drink 
while  we  live,  for  there  is  an  utter  end  of  us  in  death. 
But  (saith  he  ver.  33.)  such  evil  traditions  corrupt  all 
good  manners  ;  and  therefore  they  are  not,  they  cannot 
be  true.  There  must  be  a  resurrection  of  the  body  to  en- 
courage sufferings  in  the  body  for  the  sake  of  virtue  and 
religion.* 

*  There  are  sevetal  pages  of  just  and  pertinent  answers  to  this  objection, 
by  my  learned  and  ingenious  friend,  Mr  Henry  Grove,  in  his  thoughts  concern- 
ing the  proof  of  a  future  state  from  reason,  which  confirm  the  replies  I  have 
here  made.  "  Then  they,  saith  he,  who  are  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  (by  whom 
the  martyrs  seem  to  be  more  especially  intended)  are  perished  ;  for  any  thing 
that  Christ  can  do  for  them,  who  will  never  reward  them  for  their  sufferings, 
never  restore  that  life  which  they  lost  for  his^  sake."  And  particularly  his 
Qyposition  on  those  words,  we  are  most  miserable  of  all  men,  is  very  agi-eeable 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  55 

Object.  VI.  Doth  not  the  NeAV  Testament  constantly 
refer  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  good  and  bad 
men  to  the  time  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  or  the 
second  coming  of  Christ  ?  Is  it  not  with  this  prospect  it 
terrifies  the  sinner  ?  Is  it  not  with  this  it  comforts  the 
good  man,  and  supports  him  under  his  present  suffer- 
ings ?  It  would  be  endless  to  cite  all  the  particular  texts 
on  this  occasion.  That  one  text,  1  Thess.  iv.  14.  speaks 
the  sense  of  many  others,  and  is  suflficient  to  be  cited 
here.  The  apostle  persuades  cliristians  not  to  mourn 
for  the  dead  as  those  that  sorrow  without  hope,  and 
gives  this  reason  ;  for  those  icho  sleep  in  Jesus,  God  will 
bring  with  him,  when  he  comes  to  raise  the  dead,  and 
then  they  shall  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord;  and  he  bids 
them  comfort  one  another  with  these  words.  Whereas 
their  comforts  had  been  much  nearer  at  hand,  if  he  could 
have  told  them  of  the  separate  state  of  happiness,  which 
the  departed  souls  of  their  friends  at  present  enjoyed ; 
and  if  there  had  been  any  such  state,  he  had  the  fairest 
opportunity  here  to  introduce  it. 

Jlnsw.  This  very  text  I  have  mentioned  before  as  a 
proof  of  the  separate  state ;  and  it  is  plain  the  apostle 
seems  to  hint  it,  though  he  doth  not  insist  upon  it,  when 
he  supposes  the  soul  of  the  deceased  to  be  with  Christ 
already  ;  for  he  saith,  God  will  bring  them  with  him^ 
1.  e.  from  heaven  when  he  comes  to  raise  their  bodies. 

But  to  give  a  more  general  answer  to  the  objection, 
as  drawn  from  the  silence  of  scriptui'e,  in  many  places, 
about  this  doctrine  of  the  separate  state. 

There  are  good  reasons  why  the  New  Testament 
more  sparingly  mentions  tlie  separate  state  of  souls,  and 

to  the  place.  *'T\it  Greek  eXetvore^ot  s'lgnKies  thtxt  we  a.re  more  to  be  pitied 
than  any  men,  as  wanting  the  common  understanding  of  men  to  sufier  death 
f(?f  Christ's  sake,  who  would  never  be  able  to  recompence  us  for  it,  if  he  be 
not  risen  from  the  dead.  And  it  is  (saith  he  a  little  afterward)  for  want  of 
observing  the  intermediate  Jinks  of  the  apostle's  argument  (which  he  there 
represents,)  that  some  have  been  at  a  loss  for  his  meaning,  while,  others  have 
quite  mistaken  it"        See  page  134,  &g. 


06  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

(loth  most  frequently  (but  not  constantly)  refer  both  re- 
wards aiKl  punishments  to  the  resurrection. 

1.  Because  the  heathens  themselves  (at  least  the 
wisest  and  best  of  them)  did  believe  some  sort  of  future 
state  of  happiness  or  misery,  into  which  the  souls  of  men 
should  be  disposed  when  they  departed  from  these  bo- 
dies, according  to  the  vices  or  virtues  they  had  practised 
in  this  life  :  and  they  derived  this  doctrine  from  their 
reasonings  upon  the  foot  of  the  light  of  nature.  The 
writings  of  Plato  and  his  followers,  and  the  sentiments 
of  Socrates,  conveyed  to  us  in  Plato's  writings,  are  full 
of  this  opinion,  viz.  of  the  existence  of  the  souls  of  good 
men  in  a  happy  state,  \vhen  they  depart  from  the  body. 
Cicero  sometimes  speaks  of  it  as  his  opinion,  his  desire 
and  his  hope  ;  nor  were  other  heathen  writers  ignorant 
of  this  doctrine.  But  the  New  Testament  speaks  less  of 
this  point,  because  it  is  the  evident  design  of  Christ  and. 
liis  apostles  to  lead  their  disciples  to  the  more  peculiar 
doctrines  of  revelation,  rather  than  to  treat  them  with 
sentiments  derived  from  the  light  of  nature.  And  this 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  the  eter- 
nal rewards  and  eternal  punishments  that  attend  it,  are 
more  abundantly  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  be- 
cause they  stand  so  much  more  connected  with  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ,  and  with  his  own  resurrection  from  the 
dead  ;  which  is  the  chief  evidence  of  its  divine  authority. 
It  is  Christ  who  rose  from  the  dead,  who  is  appointed  to 
rise  and  to  judge  all  mankind  ;  and  therefore  it  is  nat- 
ural for  the  apostles  in  their  writings,  who  desire  to  keep 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  always  in  the  view 
of  their  converts,  to  point  to  the  awful  events  of  that  day, 
when  their  Saviour,  risen  from  the  dead,  shall  appear 
in  the  execution  of  his  glorious  commission,  and  judge 
the  world.  Thus  St.  Paul  preaches  to  the  Athenians, 
Acts  xvii.  30.  '^  God  now  commands  all  men  every 
where  to  repent,  becauiie  he  hath  appoiiitnd  a  day  in 


OF   A    SEPARATE    STATE.  57 

which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness,  by  that 
man  whom  he  hath  ordained ;  whereof  lie  hath  given 
assurance  to  all  men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead."  And  in  many  other  places  he  connects  our  resur- 
rection and  future  recompences  with  the  resurrection  of 
Christ. 

And  in  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  some  others,  the 
doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments  after  the  resurrec- 
tion, seems  to  carry  such  superior  force  in  it,  especially 
upon  those  who  believe  the  gospel,  that  it  is  no  wonder 
the  NeAV  Testament  more  frequently  refers  to  this  great 
day  of  resurrection ;  and  the  apostle  derives  the  chief  part 
of  his  consolations  or  terrors  from  it. 

2.  Then  will  be  the  jmblic  and  universal  retributions 
of  vice  and  virtue  in  a  more  solemn  manner  exhibited  be- 
fore all  the  world  ;  whereas  the  entrance  of  mankind  into 
the  recompences  of  the  separate  state  is  more  private  and 
personal. 

3.  Then  will  be  the  day  of  complete  rewards  and 
'punishments  of  man  in  both  parts  of  his  nature,  soul  and 
body.  All  the  separate  state  belongs  only  to  the  soul; 
and  even  those  recompences  are  but  imperfect  before,  in 
comparison  of  what  they  will  be  when  body  and  soul  are 
united. 

4.  Then  will  be  the  most  glorious,  visible,  and  sensi- 
ble distinction  made  between  the  good  and  bad :  and 
since  this  belongs  to  the  body  as  well  as  the  soul,  it  is 
very  properly  set  before  the  eyes  of  men  in  the  holy 
writings,  as  done  at  the  resurrection ;  because  corporeal 
and  sensible  things  work  more  powerfully  on  their  im- 
agination, and  more  sensibly  and  effectually  strike  the 
consciences  of  men,  than  the  notion  of  mere  spiritual 
rewards  and  punishments  in  the  separate  state. 

5.  The  state'  of  rewards  and  punishments  after  the 
resuiTection,  will  be  far  the  longest  and  most  durable 
recompence  of  the  good  and  the  bad :  and  therefore  it  is 


58  ESSAY   TOWARD    THE    PROOF 

called  etei'iial  so  often  in  scripture ;  everlasting  life,  and 
everlasting  fire.  Matt.  xxv.  41.  Whereas  the  retribu- 
tions of  the  separate  state  are  comparatively  but  of  short 
duration ;  and  this  is  another  thing  that  makes  a  sensi- 
ble impression  on  the  hearts  of  men,  viz.  the  eternal 
continuance  of  the  joys  and  sorrows  that  follow  the  last 
judgment. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  replied  here,  that  in  the  beginning 
of  this  Essay,  I  represented  the  separate  state  as  a  more 
effectual  motive  to  the  liopes  and  fears  of  men,  because 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  it  were  so  much  nearer  at  hand 
than  those  of  the  resurrection  :  and  why  do  I  now  repre- 
sent the  recompences  of  the  resurrection  under  such 
characters  as  are  fit  to  have  the  strongest  influence,  and 
become  the  most  effectual  motive  ? 

Answ.  It  is  granted,  that  the  recompences  after  the 
resurrection,  have  several  circumstances  that  carry  with 
them  some  peculiar  and  most  powerful  motives  to  reli- 
gion and  virtue ;  but  that  awful  day  may  still  seem  to 
want  this  one  motive,  viz.  the  nearness  of  it,  Avhich  be- 
longs eminently  to  the  recompences  of  the  separate  state. 
Now  if  the  scripture  does  really  reveal  the  doctrine  of 
rewards  and  punishments  of  souls  immediately  after 
death,  and  of  soul  and  body  together  at  the  resurrection, 
then  all  those  circumstances  of  effectual  motive  to  piety 
are  collected  in  our  doctrine,  viz.  the  immediate  nearness 
of  them  in  the  separate  state,  and  the  public  appearance* 
the  universality, i\\&  completeness,  ih^  sensibility,  and  the 
duration  of  them  after  the  great  rising- day. 

I  might  yet  take  occasion,  from  this  objection,  to  give 
a  further  reason,  why  the  apostles  more  frequently  draw 
their  motives  of  hope  and  fear  from  the  resuiTection  and 
the  great  judgment,  i.  e.  that  even  that  day  of  recom- 
pence  was  generally  then  supposed  to  be  near  at  hand, 
and  so  there  was  less  need  to  insist  upon  the  joys  and 
sorrows  of  the  separate  state. 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  59 

As  the  patriarchs  and  the  Jews  of  old^  after  the  Mes- 
siah was  promised,  were  constantly  expecting  his  first 
comings  ahnost  in  every  generation  till  he  did  appear ; 
and  many  modes  of  prophetical  expressions  in  scripture 
(which  speak  of  tilings  long  to  come,  as  though  they 
were  present  or  just  at  hand)  gave  them  some  occasion 
for  this  expectation ;  so  the  christians  of  the  first  age  did 
generally  expect  the  second  coming  of  Christ  to  judg- 
ment, and  tlie  resurrection  of  the  dead,  in  that  very  age 
wherein  it  was  foretold.  St.  Paul  gives  us  a  hint  of  it 
in  2  Thess.  ii.  1,  2.  They  supposed  the  day  of  the  Lord 
ivas  just  appearing.  And  many  expressions  of  Christ, 
concerning  his  return  or  coming  again  after  his  depar- 
ture, seemed  to  represent  his  absence  as  a  thing  of  no 
long  continuance.  It  is  true,  these  words  of  his  may 
partly  refer  to  liis  coming  to  destroy  Jerusalem,  and  the 
coming  in  of  his  kingdom  among  the  Gentiles ;  or  his 
coming  by  his  messenger  of  death.  Yet  they  generally, 
in  their  supreme  and  final  sense,  point  to  his  coming  to 
raise  the  dead  and  judge  the  world.  And  from  the 
words  of  Christ  also  concerning  John,  xxi.  22.  If  I  will 
that  he  tarry  till  I  come.  It  is  probable  that  the  apos- 
tles themselves  at  first,  as  well  as  other  christians,  might 
derive  this  apprehension  of  his  speedy  coming. 

It  is  certain,  that  when  Christ  speaks  of  his  comings 
in  general,  promiscuous,  and  parabolical  terms  ;  w  hether 
with  regard  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  or  the  judg- 
ment of  the  world,  he  saith.  Matt.  xxiv.  34.  "  Verily  I 
say  unto  you,  this  generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these 
things  be  fulfilled.^'  And  the  apostles  frequently  told 
the  world,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  was  near,  Phil.  iv.  5. 
''  The  Lord  is  at  hand,"  Heb.  x.  25.  "  Exhorting  one 
another,  so  much  the  more  as  ye  see  the  day  approach- 
ing. And  that  this  is  the  day  of  the  coming  of  Christ, 
ver.  37-  assures  us,  "  For  yet  a  little  while,  he  that  shall 
come  will  come,  and  will  not  tarrv."    Rora,  xiii.  12; 


60  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

^^  Now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep.  The  night 
is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand."  1  Pet.  iv.  5.  "  To  him 
wlio  is  ready  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead."  Verse  7. 
'^  The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand."  James  v,  8,  9. 
''^  The  coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh.  Behold  the 
judge  standeth  at  the  door."  Rev.  xxii.  10.  "  Seal  not 
up  the  prophecy  of  this  book ;  for  the  time  is  at  hand." 
Verse  15.  "^  And  behold  I  come  quickly,  and  my  re- 
ward is  with  me,  to  give  to  every  man  as  his  work  shall 
be."  And  the  sacred  volume  is  closed  with  this  assur- 
ance, verse  20.  ^^  Surely  I  come  quickly  ;"  and  the  echo 
and  the  expectation  of  the  apostle  or  the  church.  '^  Amen. 
Even  so,  come  Lord  Jesus." 

It  is  granted,  that  in  prophetical  expressions,  such  ass 
all  these  are,  some  obscurity  is  allowed.  And  it  may 
be  doubtful,  perliaps,  whether  some  of  them  may  refer 
to  Christ's  coming,  by  the  destructio  of  Jerusalem,  or 
his  coming  to  call  particular  persons  away  by  his  mes- 
senger of  death,  or  his  appearance  to  the  last  judgment. 
It  is  granted  also,  it  belongs  to  prophetical  language  to 
set  things  far  distant,  as  it  were,  before  our  eyes,  and 
make  them  seem  presento  r  very  near  at  hand.  But 
still  these  expressions  had  plainly  such  an  influence  on 
primitive  christians,  as  that  they  imagined  the  day  of 
resurrection  and  judgment  was  very  near.  And,  since 
the  prophetical  words  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  seemed 
to  cany  this  appearance  in  them,  and  to  keep  the  church 
under  some  uncertainty,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  apostles 
chiefly  referred  the  disciples  of  that  age  to  the  day  of  the 
resurrection,  for  comfort  under  their  sufferings  and  sor- 
rows. And  though  they  never  asserted  that  Christ 
would  come  to  raise  the  dead,  and  judge  the  world  in 
that  age,  yet  when  they  knew  themselves,  that  he  would 
not  come  so  soon,  tliey  might  not  think  it  necessary  to 
give  every  christian,  nor  every  church,  an  immediate 
account  of  th§  more  distant  time  of  this  great  event;  that 


of   A    SEPARATE    STATE.  61 

the  uncertainty  of  it  might  keep  them  ever  watchful. 
And  even  when  St.  Paul  informs  the  Thessalonians  that 
the  day  of  the  Lord  was  not  so  very  near  as  they  ima- 
gined it,  2  Thess.  ii.  2  ;  yet  he  does  not  put  it  oft'  be- 
yond that  century  by  any  express  language. 

Thus  we  see  there  is  very  good  reason  Avhy  the  New 
Testament  should  derive  its  motives  of  terror  and  comfort 
chiefly  from  the  resurrection  and  the  day  of  judgment ; 
though  it  is  not  altogether  silent  of  tlie  separate  state  of 
souls,  and  their  happiness  or  misery,  commencing,  in 
some  measure,  immediately  after  death,  which  has  been 
before  proved  by  many  scriptures  cited  for  that  purpose. 

Here  let  it  be  observed,  that  I  am  not  concerned  in 
that  question,  whether  human  souls  separated  from  their 
bodies,  have  any  other  corporeal  vehicle  to  which  they 
are  united,  or  by  which  they  act,  during  the  intermedi- 
ate state  between  death  and  the  resurrection  ?  All  that 
I  propose  to  maintain  here,  is,  that  that  period  or  inter- 
val is  not  a  state  of  sleep,  i.  e.  utter  unconsciousness  and 
inactivity.  And  whether  it  be  united  to  a  vehicle  or  no, 
I  call  it  still  the  separate  state,  because  it  is  a  state  of  the 
soul's  separation  from  this  body,  wliich  is  united  to  it  in 
the  present  life. 


SECTION  V. 

MORE  OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 

SINCE  this  book  was  written,  I  have  met  with 
several  other  objections  against  the  doctrine  here  main- 
tained ;  and,  as  I  think  they  may  all  have  a  sufficient 
answer  given  to  them,  and  the  truth  be  defended  against 
the  force  of  them,  I  thought  it  very  proper  to  lead  the 
reader  into  a  plain  and  easy  solution  of  them. 


6i8  ESSAY   TOWARD    THE    PROOF 

Objection  VII.  Is  not  long  life  represented  often  in 
scripture^  and  especially  in  the  Old  Testament^  as  a 
blessing  to  man  ?  And  is  not  death  set  before  us  as  a 
curse  or  punishment  ?  But  how  can  either  of  these  rep- 
resentations be  just  or  true,  if  souls  exist  in  a  separate 
state  ?  Are  they  not  then  brought  into  a  state  of  liberty 
by  death^  and  freed  from  all  the  inconveniences  of  this 
flesh  and  blood?  By  this  means  death  ceases  to  be  a 
punishment^  and  long  life  to  be  a  blessing. 

Answer.  It  is  according  as  the  characters  of  men  are 
either  good  or  bad,  and  according  as  good  men  know 
more  or  less  of  a  separate  state  of  rewards  or  punish- 
ments, so  a  long  life,  or  early  death,  are  to  be  esteemed 
blessings  or  calamities,  in  a  greater  or^  less  degree. 

Long  life  was  represented  as  a  blessing  to  good  men, 
in  as  much  as  it  gave  them  opportunity  to  enjoy  more  of 
the  blessings  of  this  life,  and  to  do  more  service  for  God 
in  the  world.  And  especially  since,  in  ancient  times, 
there  was  much  darkness  upon  this  doctrine  of  the  future 
state,  and  many  good  men  had  not  so  clear  a  knowledge 
of  it.  Long  life  was  also  a  blessing  to  w  icked  men,  be- 
cause it  kept  them  in  a  state  wherein  there  w  ere  some 
comforts,  and  withheld  them  for  a  season,  from  the  pun- 
ishments of  the  separate  state. 

Death  was  doubtless  a  punishment  and  a  curse,  when 
it  was  first  brought  into  human  nature  by  the  sin  of 
Adam,  as  it  cut  off  mankind  from  the  blessings  of  this 
life,  and  plunged  him  into  a  dark  and  unknown  state. 
And  if  he  were  a  wicked  man,  it  plunged  him  into  cer- 
tain misery. 

But  since  the  blessings  of  the  future  state  of  happi- 
ness for  good  men  are  more  clearly  revealed,  long  life 
is  not  so  very  great  a  blessing,  nor  death  so  great  a 
punishment  to  good  men  ;  for  death  is  sanctified  by  the 
covenant  of  grace,  to  be  an  introduction  of  their  souls 


I 


OF   A    SEPARATE   STATE.  63 

into  the  separate  state  of  happiness,  and  the  curse  is 
turned  in  some  respect  into  a  blessing. 

Objection  VIII.  Was  it  not  supposed  to  be  a  great 
privilege  to  Enoch  and  Elijah,  when  they  were  transla- 
ted without  dying  ?  But  what  advantage  could  it  be  to 
either  of  them  to  carry  a  body  with  them  to  heaven,  if 
their  souls  could  act  without  it  ? 

I  ansicer,  when  Enoch  and  Elijah  carried  their  bo- 
dies to  heaven  with  them,  it  was  certainly  a  sublime 
honor,  and  a  peculiar  privilege  which  they  enjoyed,  to 
have  so  early  an  happiness  both  in  flesh  and  spirit,  con- 
ferred upon  them  so  many  ages  before  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. For  though  the  soul  can  act  without  the  body, 
yet  as  the  body  is  part  of  the  compounded  nature  of  man, 
our  happiness  is  not  designed  to  be  complete  till  the 
soul  and  body  are  united  in  a  state  of  perfection  and 
glory.  And  this  happiness  was  conferred  early  on  those 
two  favorites  of  heaven. 

Objection  IX.  Was  it  not  designed  as  a  favor,  when 
persons  were  raised  from  the  dead,  under  the  Old  Tes- 
tament or  the  New,  by  the  prophets,  by  Christ,  and  by 
his  apostles  ?  But  what  benefit  could  this  be  to  them,  if 
they  had  consciousness  and  enjoyment  in  the  other  world  ? 
Was  it  not  rather  an  injury  to  bring  them  back  from  a 
state  of  happiness  into  such  a  miserable  world  as  this  ? 

Answer  i.  Since  these  souls  were  designed  to  be 
soon  restored  to  their  bodies,  and  the  persons  were  to  ])« 
raised  to  a  mortal  life  again  in  a  few  days,  it  is  probable 
they  were  kept  just  in  the  same  state  of  immemorial  con- 
sciousness, as  the  soul  is  in  while  the  body  is  in  the 
deepest  sleep  ;  and  so  were  not  immediately  sent  to 
heaven  or  hell,  or  determined  to  a  state  of  sensible  hap- 
piness or  misery.  Then  when  the  person  was  raised  to 
life  again,  there  was  no  remembrance  of  the  intermediate 
state  ;  but  all  the  consciousness  of  that  day  or  two,  van- 


64f  ESSAY   TOWARD   THE    PROO]' 

islied,  and  were  forgotten  for  ever,  as  it  is  with  us  when 
we  sleep  soundly  without  dreaming. 

Answer  2.  If  those  who  are  raised  by  Christ,  or  the 
prophets,  or  the  apostles,  were  pious  persons,  they  sub- 
mitted by  the  will  of  God  to  a  longer  continuance  in  this 
world  amidst  some  difficulties  and  sorrows  ;  which  sub- 
mission would  be  abundantly  recompenced  hereafter. 
If  they  were  not  good  persons,  their  renewed  life  on 
earth  was  a  reprieve  from  punishment.  So  there  was  no 
injury  done  to  any  of  them. 

As  for  those  who  were  raised  at  the  resurrection  of 
Christy  and  were  seen  by  many  persons  in  the  holy  cityy 
there  is  no  dou])t  but  they  were  raised  to  immortality, 
and  ascended  to  heaven  when  Christ  did,  as  part  of 
his  triumphant  attendants,  and  went  to  dwell  with  him 
in  the  heavenly  state. 

Objection  X.  If.the  martyis  and  confessors  were  to 
be  partakers  of  the  first  resurrection  in  Rev.  xx.  4,  5. 
would  not  this  be  punishment  instead  of  a  blessing,  to  be 
called  from  the  immediate  presence  of  God,  and  Christ, 
and  angels,  to  be  re-united  to  bodies  on  earth,  and  dwell 
here  again  with  men  ?  Therefore  it  seems  more  prob- 
able, that  the  souls  of  tliese  holy  martyrs,  had  no  such 
separate  existence  or  enjoyment  of  happiness. 

tlnswer.  Perhaps  neither  that  text,  nor  any  others  in 
the  Bible  foretel  the  resurrection  of  any  number  of 
persons  to  an  animal  earthly  life  again  in  this  world : 
perhaps  that  prophecy  means  no  more,  than  that  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  religion,  for  w  hich  men  were  mar- 
tyred and  beheaded  heretofore,  shall  rise  again  in  the 
world,  and  the  professors  of  it  in  that  day  shall  be  in 
flourishing  circumstances  for  a  thousand  years,  or  a 
very  long  season  :  so  that  in  prophetic  language  these 
words  do  not  signify  the  same  individual  martyrs  or 
confessors,  but  their  successors  in  the  same  faith  and 
practice. 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE,  65 

Or  if  there  should  be  any  resurrection  of  good  men  to 
an  animal  life  in  this  world,  foretold  by  the  prophets, 
and  intended  by  the  great  and  blessed  God,  I  doubt  not 
but  they  would  be  here  so  far  separated  from  the  wick- 
ed world,  where  sins  and  sorrows  reign,  that  it  would 
be  a  gradual  advance  of  their  happiness,  beyond  what 
they  enjoyed  before  in  the  separate  state. 

Objection  XI.  Though  man  is  often  said  to  be  a  com- 
pounded creature  of  soul  and  body,  yet  in  scripture  iie 
is  represented  as  one  being.  It  is  the  man  that  is  born, 
that  lives,  that  sleeps  or  wakes,  and  that  rises  from  the 
dead.  This  is  evident  in  many  places  of  scripture, 
where  these  things  are  spoken  of.  And  it  seems  to  be 
the  law  of  our  nature  or  being,  that  we  should  always 
act  and  live  in  such  a  state  as  souls  united  to  bodies, 
and  never  in  a  state  of  separation. 

Answer.  Though  there  are  several  scriptures  which 
represent  man  as  one  being,  viz.  soul  and  body  united, 
yet  there  are  many  other  scriptures  which  have  been 
cited  in  the  former  parts  of  this  Essay,  wherein  the  souls 
and  the  bodies  of  men  are  represented  as  two  very  dis- 
tinct things.  The  one  goes  to  the  grave  at  death,  and 
the  other  either  into  Abraham's  bosom,  or  to  a  place  of 
torment ;  either  to  dwell  with  God,  to  be  present  with 
Christ  the  Lord,  and  to  become  one  of  the  spirits  of  the 
just  made  perfect,  or  to  go  to  their  own  place  as  Judas 
did.  Now  those  texts,  where  man  is  represented  as  one 
being,  may  be  explained  with  very  great  ease,  consid- 
ering man  as  made  up  of  two  distinct  substances,  viz. 
body  and  spirit,  united  into  one  personal  agent,  as  we 
have  shewn  before.  But  the  several  texts,  where  the 
soul  and  body  are  so  strongly  and  plainly  distinguished, 
as  has  been  before  represented,  there  is  no  possible  way 
of  representing  these  scriptures,  but  by  supposing  a  sep- 
arate  state  of  existence  for  soals  after  the  body  is  dead  ; 
9 


66  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

which  makes  it  necessary  that  this  exposition  should 
take  place. 

Objection  XII.  How  comes  death  to  be  called  so 
often  in  scripture  a  sleep,  if  the  soul  wakes  all  the  while  ? 

Answer.  Why  is  the  repose  of  man  every  night  called 
sleep,  since  the  soul  wakes,  as  appears  by  a  thousand 
dreams?  But  as  a  sleeping  man  ceases  to  act  in  the 
business  or  affairs  of  this  world,  though  the  soul  be 
not  dead  or  unthinking,  so  death  is  called  sleep,  because 
during  that  state,  men  are  cut  off  from  the  business  of 
this  world,  though  the  soul  may  think  and  act  in  anotlier. 

Objection  XIII.  The  scripture  speaks  often  of  the 
general  judgment  of  mankind,  at  tlie  last  great  day  of 
the  resurrection  ;  but  it  does  not  teach  us  the  doctrine  of 
a  particular  judgment,  which  the  soul  is  supposed  to 
pass  under,  when  every  single  man  dies.  Why  then 
should  we  invent  such  a  supposition,  or  believe  such  a 
doctrine  of  a  particular  judgment  in  a  separate  state  ? 

Answer.  It  is  evident  in  many  scriptures,  as  we  have 
shewn  before,  that  the  souls  of  men  after  death,  are  rep- 
resented as  enjoying  pleasure  or  punishment  in  the  sep- 
arate state.  The  soul  of  Lazarus  in  heaven,  the  soul  of 
Dives  in  hell,  the  soul  of  Paul  as  h&ixi^  present  icith  the 
Lord,  tcliich  is  far  better  than  dwelling  in  this  flesli,  or 
being  present  with  this  body,  &c.  Therefore  there  must 
be  a  sort  of  judgment  or  sentence  of  determination,  past 
upon  every  such  soul  by  the  great  God,  whether  it  shall 
be  happy  or  miserable.  For  it  can  never  be  supposed, 
that  happiness  or  misery  should  be  given  to  such  souls, 
without  the  determination  of  Grod,  the  Judge  of  all.  And 
perhaps  that  text.  Heb.  ix.  27,  refers  to  it — It  is  ap- 
pointed unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the  judg- 
ment;  i.  e,  immediately  after  it. 

Or  suppose  that  in  the  separate  state  the  pleasures  or 
sorrows,  which  attend  souls  departing  from  the  body, 
should  be  only  such  as  are  the  necessary  consequents  of 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  67 

a  life  spent  in  the  practice  of  vice  or  of  virtue,  of  religion 
or  ungodliness,  without  any  formalities  of  standing  be- 
fore a  judgment  seat,  or  a  solemn  sentence  of  absolution 
or  condemnation.  Yet  the  very  entrance  upon  this 
state,  whether  it  be  of  peace  or  of  torment,  must  be  sup- 
posed to  signify,  that  the  state  of  that  soul  is  adjuiiged 
or  determined,  by  the  great  Grovernor  of  tlie  world. 
And  this  is  all  that  is  necessarily  meant  by  a  particular 
judgment  of  each  soul  at  death,  whether  it  pass  under 
the  solemn  formalities  of  a  judgment  and  a  tribunal 
or  not. 

Objection  XIV.  If  the  saints  can  be  happy  without 
a  body,  what  need  of  a  resurrection  ?  Let  the  body  be 
as  refined,  as  active,  as  powerful  and  glorious  as  it  can 
be,  still  it  must  certainly  be  a  clog  to  the  soul.  And 
this  was  the  objection  that  the  heathen  philosophers 
made  to  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  which  the  chris- 
tians profess  ;  for  the  philosophers  told  them,  this  res- 
urrection, which  they  called  their  highest  reward^  was 
really  a  punishment. 

Answer.  The  force  of  this  objection  has  been  quite 
taken  away  before,  when  it  has  been  shewn  that  man, 
being  a  creature  compounded  of  body  and  spirit,  was 
designed  for  its  highest  happiness,  and  the  perfection  of 
its  nature  in  this  state  of  union,  and  not  in  a  state  of  sep- 
aration. And  let  it  be  observed,  that  when  the  body 
shall  be  raised  from  the  grave,  it  shall  not  be  such  flesh 
and  blood  as  we  now  wear,  nor  made  up  of  such  mate- 
rials, as  shall  clog  or  obstruct  the  soul  in  any  of  its  most 
vigorous  and  divine  exercises ;  but  it  shall  be  a  spint- 
ual  body  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  44  ;  a  body  fitted  to  serve  a  holy 
and  a  glorified  spirit  in  its  actions  and  its  enjoyments  ; 
and  to  render  the  spirit  capable  of  some  further  excel- 
lencies, both  of  action  and  enjoyment,  than  it  is  naturally 
capable  of  without  a  body.  What  sort  of  qualities  this 
new  raised  body  shall  be  endued  with,  in  order  to  in- 


68  ESSAY  TOWARD  THE  PROOF 

crease  the  excellency  or  the  happiness  of  pious  souls, 
will  be,  in  a  gerat  measure,  a  mystery  or  a  secret,  till 
that  blessed  morning  appears. 

Objection  XV.  Is  not  our  immortality  in  scripture 
described  as  built  upon  the  incorruptible  state  of  our 
new  raised  bodies  ?  1  Cor.  xv.  53.  "  This  corruptible 
must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on 
iuimortality,'^  But  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  is  not  particularly  found  or  taught  in  scripture. 

Answer.  It  is  granted  that  the  immortality  of  the  new 
raised  body,  is  built  on  that  corruptible  sort  of  materials 
of  which  it  is  to  be  formed,  or  which  shall  be  mingled 
with  it ;  or  the  incorruptible  qualities  which  shall  be 
given  to  it  by  God  himself.  But  the  soul  is  immortal 
in  itself,  whether  with  or  witliout  a  body.  And  he  that 
can  read  all  those  texts  of  scripture  which  have  been 
before  made  use  of  in  this  Essay,  wherein  the  existence 
of  the  spirit  after  the  death  of  the  body,  is  so  plainly 
expressed,  and  cannot  find  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
in  them,  or  the  sjnrifs  capacity  of  existence  in  a  sep- 
arate state  from  the  body,  must  be  left  to  his  own  senti- 
ments, to  explain  and  verify  the  expressions  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles  some  other  way  ;  or  he  must  acknowl- 
edge that  these  expressions  are  somewhat  uncautious 
and  dangerous,  since  it  is  evident  they  lead  thousands 
and  ten  thousands  of  wise  and  sober  readers  into  this 
sentiment  of  the  souFs  immortality. 

Whether  the  soul  in  its  own  nature  be  necessarily 
immortal,  is  a  point  of  philosophy,  and  not  to  be  sought 
for  directly  in  scripture.  But  whether  the  great  God, 
the  Governor  of  the  world,  has  not  appointed  souls  to 
exist  in  a  separate  state  of  happiness  or  misery,  after  tlie 
bodies  are  dead,  seems  to  me  to  be  so  plainly  determin- 
ed in  many  of  the  scriptures  which  liave  been  cited,  as 
leaves  no  sufficient  reason  to  doubt  of  the  truth  of  it. 

To  conclude — Though  I  think  the  doctrine  of  the 


OF  A  SEPARATE  STATE.  69 

separate  state  of  souls  to  be  of  much  importance  in 
Christianity,  and  that  the  denial  of  it  carries  great  incon- 
veniencies,  and  weakens  the  motive  to  virtue  and  piety, 
by  putting  off  all  manner  of  rewards  and  punishments, 
to  such  a  distance  as  the  general  resurrection,  yet  I  dare 
not  contend  for  it  as  a  matter  of  such  absolute  necessity, 
that  a  man  cannot  be  a  christian  without  it.  But  this 
must  be  confessed,  that  they  who  deny  this  doctrine, 
seem  to  have  need  of  stronger  inward  zeal  to  guard  them 
against  temptation,  and  to  keep  their  hearts  always  alive 
and  watchful  to  God  and  religion,  since  their  motives 
to  strict  piety  and  virtue  are  sensibly  weakened,  by  re- 
nouncing all  belief  of  this  nearer  and  more  immediate 
commencement  of  heaven  or  hell. 


DISCOURSES 

ON  THE  WORLD  TO  COME. 
DISCOURSE  I. 

THE  END  OF  TIME. 

Hev.  X.  5,  6.  And  the  angel  which  I  saw  stand  upon 
the  sea,  and  upon  the  earth,  lifted  up  his  hand  to 
heaven,  and  sware  by  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and 
ever, —  That  there  should  be  time  no  longer. 

THIS  is  the  oath  and  the  solemn  sentence  of  a 
mighty  angel  who  came  down  from  heaven  ;  and  by  the 
description  of  him  in  the  first  verse,  he  seems  to  be  the 
angel  of  God's  presence,  in  whom  is  the  name  of  God, 
even  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  who  pronounced 
and  sware  that  time  should  be  no  longer  ;  for  all  seasons 
and  times  are  now  put  into  his  hand,  together  with  the 
book  of  his  Father's  decrees,  Rev.  v.  ^,  9.  What  spe- 
cial age  or  period  of  time  in  this  world  the  prophecy 
refers  to,  may  not  be  so  easy  to  determine ;  but  this  is 
certain,  that  it  may  be  happily  applied  to  the  period  of 
every  man's  life  ;  for  whensoever  the  term  of  our  con- 
tinuance in  this  world  is  finished,  our  time,  in  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  and  scenes  that  attend  it,  shall  be  no 
more.  We  shall  be  swept  oif  the  stage  of  this  visible 
state,  into  an  unseen  and  eternal  world.  Eternity 
comes  upon  us  at  once,  and  all  that  we  enjoy,  all  that 
we  do,  and  all  that  we  suffer  in  time,  shall  be  no  longer. 
Let  us  stand  still  here,  and  consider  in  the  first  place 
what  awful  and  important  thoughts  are  contained  in  this 


THE  END  OP  TIME.  71 

sentence,  what  solemn  ideas  should  arise  to  the  view  of 
mortal  creatures, when  it  shall  be  pronounced  concerning 
each  of  them,  that  time  shall  he  no  more. 

1.  The  time  of  the  recovery  of  our  nature  from  its 
sinful  and  wretched  state  shall  be  no  longer.  We  come 
into  this  world  fallen  creatures,  childen  of  iniquity,  and 
heirs  of  death;  we  have  lost  the  image  of  God  who 
made  us,  and  which  our  nature  enjoyed  in  our  first 
parents  ;  and  instead  of  it  we  are  changed  into  the  image 
of  the  devil  in  the  lusts  of  the  mind,  in  pride  and  malice, 
in  self-sufficiency  and  enmity  to  God  ;  and  we  have  put 
on  also  the  image  of  the  brute  in  sinful  appetites  and 
sensualties,  and  in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh ;  nor  can  we 
ever  be  made  truly  happy  till  the  image  of  the  blessed 
God  be  restored  upon  us,  till  we  are  made  holy  as  he  is 
holy,  till  we  have  a  divine  change  passed  upon  us, 
whereby  we  are  created  anew  and  reformed  in  heart 
and  practice.  And  this  life  is  the  only  time  given  us 
for  this  important  change.  If  this  life  be  finished  before 
the  image  of  God  be  restored  to  us,  this  image  will 
never  be  restored ;  but  we  shall  bear  the  likeness  of 
devils  for  ever ;  and  perhaps  the  image  of  the  brute  too 
at  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  be  farther  off  from 
God  and  all  that  is  holy  than  ever  we  were  here  upon 
earth. 

Of  what  infinite  importance  is  it  then  to  be  frequently 
awakening  ourselves  at  special  seasons  and  periods  of 
life  to  enquire,  whether  this  image  of  God  is  begun  to  be 
renewed  ;  whether  we  have  this  glorious  change  wrought 
in  us ;  whether  our  desires  and  delights  are  fixed  upon 
holy  and  heavenly  things,  instead  of  those  sensual  and 
earthly  objects  which  draw  away  all  our  souls  from 
God  and  Jseaven.  Let  it  appear  to  us  as  a  matter  of 
utmost  moment  to  seek  after  this  change  ;  let  us  pursue 
it  with  unwearied  labors  and  strivings  with  our  own 
hearts,  and   perpetual   importunities  at  the  throne  of 


7S  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

grace,  lest  tlie  voice  of  him  ^vllo  swears  that  there  shall 
be  time  no  longer,  should  seize  us  in  some  unexpected 
moment,  and  least  he  swear  in  his  wrath  concerning  us, 
let  him  that  is  unholy  be  unholy  still,  and  let  him  that  is 
filthy,  be  filthy  still. 

2.  When  this  sentence  is  pronounced  concerning  us, 
the  season  and  the  means  of  restoring  us  to  the  favor  and 
love  of  God  shall  be  no  longer.  We  are  born  children 
of  wrath  as  well  as  tlie  sons  and  daugliters  of  iniquity, 
Ephes.  ii.  2.  We  have  lost  the  original  favor  of  our 
Maker  and  are  banished  from  his  love,  and  the  superior 
blessings  of  his  goodness  ;  and  yet,  blessed  be  the  Lord, 
that  we  are  not  at  present  for  ever  banished  beyond  all 
hope.  Tliis  time  of  life  is  given  us  to  seek  the  recovery 
of  the  love,  of  God,  by  returning  to  him  according  to  the 
gospel  of  his  Son.  Now  is  pardon  and  peace,  now  is 
grace  and  salvation  preached  unto  men,  to  sinful  wretch- 
ed men,  who  are  at  enmity  with  God  and  the  objects  of 
his  high  displeasure  :  now  the  voice  of  mercy  calls  to 
us,  '^  This  is  the  accepted  time,  this  is  the  day  of  salva- 
tion :"  2  Cor.  vi.  2.  "  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice, 
let  not  your  hearts  be  hardened  to  refuse  it."  Now  the 
fountain  of  the  blood  of  Christ  is  set  open  to  wash  our 
souls  from  the  guilt  of  sin ;  now  all  the  springs  of  his 
mercy  are  broken  up  in  the  ministrations  of  the  gospel ; 
now  God  is  in  Christ,  reconciliyig  sinners  to  himself, 
and  he  has  sent  us,  his  ministers,  to  intreat  you  in  ChrisPs 
stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God  ;  and  we  beseech  you  in 
his  name,  continue  not  one  day,  or  one  hour  longer  in 
your  enmity  and  rebellion,  but  be  ye  reconciled  to  God, 
your  creator,  and  accept  of  his  offered  forgiveness  and 
grace  ;  2  Cor.  v.  20, 

The  moment  is  hastening  upon  us,  Avhen  this  mighty 
angel,  who  manages  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  of  provi- 
dence, shall  swear  concerning  every  unbelieving  and 
impenitent  sinner,  that  the  "  time  of  offered  mercy  shall 


THE  END  OP  TIME.  73 

be  110  longer,  the  time  of  pardon,  and  grace,  and  recon- 
ciliation shall  be  no  more."  The  sound  of  this  mercy 
reaches  not  to  the  regions  of  the  dead  :  those  who  die 
before  they  are  reconciled,  they  die  under  the  load  of 
all  their  sins,  and  must  perisli  for  ever,  without  the  least 
hope  or  glimpse  of  reconciling  or  forgiving  grace. 

3.  At  the  term  of  this  mortal  life,  the  time  of  'prayev 
and  repentance,  and  service  for  God  or  man  in  this 
ivorld  shall  he  no  longer.  Eccl.  ix.  10  ;  "  There  is  no 
work  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the 
grave  whither  thou  goest,"  whither  we  are  all  hasten- 
ing. Let  every  sinful  creature  tlierefore  ask  himself, 
have  I  never  yet  began  to  pray  ?  never  began  to  call 
upon  the  mercy  of  the  God  that  made  me  ?  never  be- 
gan to  repent  of  all  my  crimes  and  follies  ?  nor  begun 
in  good  earnest  to  do  service  for  God,  or  to  honor  him 
amongst  men  ?  Dreadful  tliought  indeed  !  When  it  may 
be  the  next  hour  we  may  be  put  out  of  all  capacity  and 
opportunity  to  do  it  for  ever  !  As  soon  as  ever  an  im- 
penitent sinner  has  the  vail  of  death  drawn  over  him,  all 
his  opportunities  of  this  kind  are  forever  cut  oif.  He  that 
has  never  repented,  never  prayed,  never  honored  his 
God,  shall  never  be  able  to  pray  or  repent,  or  do  any 
thing  for  God  or  his  honor,  through  all  the  ages  of  his 
future  immortality.  Nor  is  there  any  promise  made  to 
returning  or  repenting  sinners  in  the  other  world,  whither 
we  are  hastening.  As  the  tree  falls,  when  it  is  cut  down, 
so  it  lies  ;  and  it  must  for  ever  lie,  pointijig  to  the  7iortk 
or  the  south,  to  hell  or  heaven.    Eccles.  xi.  3. 

And  indeed  there  is  no  true  prayer,  no  sincere  repen- 
tance can  be  exercised  after  this  life ;  for  the  soul  that 
has  wasted  away  all  its  time  given  for  repentance  and 
pVayer,  is,  at  the  moment  of  death,  left  under  everlast- 
ing hardness  of  heart ;  and  whatsoever  enmity  against 
God  and  godliness  was  found  in  the  heart  in  this  world 
is  increased  in  the  world  to  come,  when  all  manner  of 
10 


74  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

softening  means  and  mercies  are  ever  at  an  end.     This 
leads  me  to  tlie  next  thought. 

4.  How  wretched  soever  our  state  is  at  death,  the  day 
of  hope  is  ended,  and  it  returns  no  more.  Be  our 
circumstances  never  so  bad,  yet  we  are  not  completely 
wretched  while  the  time  of  hope  remains.  We  are  all 
by  nature  miserable  by  reason  of  sin,  but  it  is  only  de- 
spair can  perfect  our  misery.  Therefore  fallen  angels 
are  sealed  up  under  misery  because  there  is  no  door  of 
hope  opened  for  them.  But  in  this  life  there  is  hope 
for  the  worst  of  sinful  men.  There  is  a  word  of  grace 
and  hope  calling  them  in  the  gospel  ;  there  is  the  voice 
of  divine  mercy  sounding  in  the  sanctuary,  and  blessed 
are  they  that  hear  the  joyful  sound.  But  if  we  turn  the 
deaf  ear  to  the  voice  of  God  and  his  Son,  and  to  all  the 
tender  and  compassionate  intreaties  of  a  dying  Saviour, 
hope  is  hastening  to  its  period  ;  for  this  very  angel  will 
shortly  swear,  that  this  joyful  sound  shall  be  heard  no 
longer. 

He  comes  now  to  the  door  of  our  hearts,  he  sues  there 
for  remittance,  "  Open  unto  me  and  receive  me  as  your 
Saviour  and  your  Lord,  give  me  and  my  gospel  free 
admission,  and  I  will  come  in  and  bestow  upon  you  the 
riches  of  my  grace  and  all  my  salvation.  Open  your 
hearts  to  me  with  the  holy  desires  and  humble  submis- 
sion of  penitence,  and  receive  the  blessings  of  righteous- 
ness, and  pardon,  and  eternal  life."  He  now  invites 
you  to  return  to  God  with  an  acknowledgement  and  re- 
nunciation of  every  sin,  and  he  offers  to  take  you  by  the 
hand  and  introduce  you  into  his  Father's  presence  with 
comfort.  This  is  a  day  of  hope  for  the  vilest  and  most 
hateful  criminals  ;  but  if  you  continue  to  refuse,  he  will 
shortly  swear  in  liis  wrath,  you  shall  never  enter  into 
his  kingdom,  you  shall  never  taste  of  the  provisions  of 
his  grace,  you  shall  never  be  partakers  of  the  blessings 
purchased  with  his  blood,  Heb.  iii.  18.  "  I  swear  in  my 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  75 

wrath,"  saith  the  Lord;,  "  they  shall  not  enter  into  my 
rest.'' 

Oh  !  the  dreadful  state  of  sinful  creatures,  who  contin- 
ue in  such  obstinacy,  who  waste  away  the  means  of  grace 
and  the  seasons  of  hope,  week  after  week,  and  month 
after  month,  till  the  day  of  grace  and  hope  is  for  ever 
at  an  end  with  them  !  Hopeless  creatures  !  Under  the 
power  and  the  plague  of  sin,  under  the  wrath  and  curse 
of  a  God,  under  the  eternal  displeasure  of  Jesus  who 
was  once  the  minister  of  his  Father's  love ;  and  they 
must  abide  under  all  this  wretchedness  through  a  long 
eternity,  and  in  the  land  of  everlasting  despair.  But  I 
forbear  that  theme  at  present,  and  proceed. 

5.  At  the  moment  of  our  death  the  time  of  our  pre- 
paration for  the  hour  of  judgment^  and  for  the  insur- 
ance of  heaven  and  happiness  shall  be  no  longer.  Mis- 
erable creatures  that  are  summoned  to  die  thus  unpre- 
pared !  This  life  is  the  only  time  to  prepare  for  dying, 
to  get  ready  to  stand  before  the  Judge  of  the  whole  earth, 
and  to  secure  our  title  to  the  heavenly  blessedness.  Let 
my  heart  enquire,  "  Have  I  ever  seriously  begun  to 
prepare  for  a  dying  hour,  and  to  appear  before  the  Judge 
of  all  ?  Have  I  ever  concerned  myself  in  good  earnest  to 
secure  an  interest  in  the  heavenly  inheritance,  when  this 
earthly  tabernacle  shall  be  dissolved  ?  Have  I  ever 
made  interest  for  the  favor  of  God  and  a  share  of  the  in- 
heritance of  the  saints,  by  Jesus  the  great  Meditator, 
while  he  afforded  life  and  time  ?'' 

Death  is  daily  and  hourly  hastening  upon  us  :  death 
is  the  king  of  terrors,  and  will  fulfil  all  his  name  to 
every  soul  that  is  unprepared.  It  is  a  piece  of  wisdom 
then  for  every  one  of  us,  since  we  must  die,  to  search 
and  feel  whether  death  has  lost  its  sting  or  no  ;  wheth- 
er it  be  taken  away  by  the  blood  of  Christ  ?  Is  this  blood 
sprinkled  on  my  conscience  by  the  humble  exercise  of 
faith  on  a  dying  Saviour  ?  Are  the  terrors  of  death  re- 


70  TKE  END  OF  TIME. 

moved,  and  am  I  |3repared  to  meet  it  by  the  sanctifying 
influences  of  the  blessed  spirit  ?  Have  I  such  an  interest 
in  the  covenant  of  grace  as  takes  away  the  sting  of  death, 
as  turns  the  curse  into  a  blessing,  and  changes  the  dark 
scenes  of  death  into  the  commencement  of  a  new  and 
everlasting  life  ?  This  is  that  preparation  for  dying  for 
which  our  time  of  life  w  as  given  us ;  and  happy  are 
those  who  were  taught  of  God  to  makfe  this  use  of  it. 

Judgment  is  making  haste  towards  us;  months  and 
days  of  divine  patience  are  flying  swift  away,  and  the 
last  great  day  is  just  at  hand.  Then  we  must  give  an 
account  of  all  that  has  been  done  in  the  hody^  ivhether  it 
has  been  good  or  evil:  and  wliat  a  dismal  and  distressing 
surprise  will  it  be  to  have  the  Judge  come  upon  us  in  a 
blaze  of  glory  and  terror,  while  we  have  no  good  ac- 
count to  give  at  his  demand  ?  And  yet  this  is  the  very 
end  and  design  of  all  our  time,  which  is  lengthened  out 
to  us  on  this  side  the  grave,  and  of  all  the-  advantages 
that  we  have  enjoyed  in  this  life,  that  we  may  be  ready 
to  render  up  our  account  with  joy  to  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth. 

Heaven  is  not  ours  by  birth  and  inheritance,  as  lands 
and  houses  on  earth  descend  to  us  from  our  earthly 
parents.  We  as  well  as  they  are  by  nature  unfit  for 
heaven  and  children  of  wrath  ;  but  we  may  be  born 
again,  we  may  be  born  of  God,  and  become  heirs  of  the 
heavenly  inheritance  tlu'ough  Jesus  Christ.  We  may 
be  renewed  into  the  temper  and  spirit  of  heaven  ;  and 
this  life  is  the  only  season  that  is  given  us  for  this  im- 
portant change.  Shall  we  let  our  days  and  years  pass 
away  one  after  anotlier  in  long  succession,  and  continue 
the  children  of  wrath  still  ?  Are  we  contented  to  go  on 
this  year  as  the  last,  without  a  title  to  lieaven,  without  a 
divine  temper,  and  without  any  preparation  for  the  busi- 
ness or  the  blessedness  of  that  happy  w  orld  ? 

6.  When  this  life  comes  to  an  end,  the  time  of  all  onr 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  77 

earthly  comforts  and  amusements  shall  he  no  7nore.  We 
shall  have  none  of  these  sensible  things  around  us,  to 
employ  or  entertain  our  eyes  or  our  ears,  to  gratify  our 
appetites,  to  sooth  our  passions,  or  to  support  our  spirits 
in  distress.  All  the  infinite  variety  of  cares,  labours  and 
joys,  which  surround  us  here,  shall  be  no  more  ;  life, 
with  all  the  busy  scenes  and  the  pleasing  satisfactions  of 
it  dissolve  and  perish  together.  Have  a  care  then  that 
you  do  not  make  any  of  them  your  chief  hope,  for  they 
are  but  the  things  of  time,  they  are  all  short  and  dying 
enjoyments. 

Under  the  various  calamities  of  this  life  we  find  a 
variety  of  sensible  reliefs,  and  our  thoughts  and  souls 
are  called  away  from  their  sorrows  by  present  business, 
or  diverted  by  present  pleasures  ;  but  all  these  avoca- 
tions and  amusements  will  forsake  ns  at  once,  when  we 
drop  this  mortal  tabernacle ;  we  must  enter  alone  into 
the  world  of  spirits,  and  live  without  them  tliere. 

Whatsoever  agonies  or  terrors,  or  huge  distresses,  we 
may  meet  within  that  unknown  region,  we  sliall  have 
none  of  these  sensible  enjoyments  to  soften  and  allay 
them,  no  drop  of  sweetness  to  mix  with  that  bitter  cup, 
no  scenes  of  gaiety  and  merriment  to  relieve  the  gloom 
of  that  utter  darkness,  or  to  sooth  the  anguish  of  that 
eternal  heart-ache.  O  take  heed,  my  friends,  that  your 
souls  do  not  live  too  much  on  any  of  the  satisfactions  of 
this  life,  that  your  affections  be  not  set  upon  them  in  too 
high  a  degree,  that  you  make  tliem  not  your  idols  and 
your  chief  good,  lest  you  be  left  helpless  and  miserable 
under  everlasting  disappointment,  for  they  cannot  follow 
you  into  the  world  of  souls  ;  they  are  the  things  of 
time,  and  they  have  no  place  in  eternity.  Read  what 
caution  the  apostle  Paul  gives  us  in  our  converse  with 
the  dearest  comforts  of  life  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  29.  The  time 
is  short  ;  and  let  those  who  have  the  largest  affluence  of 
temporal  blessings,  who  have  the  nearest  and  kiwde^t 


78  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

relatives,  and  the  most  endeared  friendships,  be  morti- 
fied  to  them,  and  be,  in  some  sense,  as  though  they  had 
them  not,  for  ye  cannot  possess  them  long.  St.  Peter 
joins  in  the  same  sort  of  advice,  1  Pet.  iv.  7-  The  end 
of  all  things  is  at  hand,  therefore  he  ye  sober,  be  ye 
moderate  in  every  enjoyment  on  earth,  and  prepare  to 
part  with  them  all,  when  the  angel  pronounces  that  time 
shall  he  no  longer.  His  sentence  puts  an  eifectual  pe- 
riod to  every  joy  in  this  life,  and  to  every  hope  that  is 
not  eternal. 

Thus  we  have  taken  a  brief  survey,  what  are  the 
solemn  and  awful  thoughts  relating  to  such  mortal  crea- 
tures in  general,  which  are  contained  in  this  voice  or 
sentence  of  the  angel,  that  time  shall  he  no  longer. 

In  the  second  place  let  us  proceed  further,  and  in- 
quire  a  little  wliat  are  those  terrors  which  will  attend 
sinners,  impenitent  sinners,  at  the  end  of  time. 

1.  *3  dreadful  account  must  be  given  of  all  this  lost 
and  wasted  time.  When  the  Judge  shall  ascend  his 
throne  in  the  air,  and  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam 
are  brought  before  him,  the  grand  inquiry  will  be, 
Wliat  have  you  done  with  all  the  time  of  life  in  yonder 
world  ?  <^  You  spent  thirty  or  forty  years  there,  or  per- 
haps seventy  or  eighty,  and  I  gave  you  this  time  with  a 
thousand  opportunities  and  means  of  grace  and  salva- 
tion ;  what  have  you  done  with  them  all  ?  How  many 
Sabbaths  did  I  aiford  you  ?  How  many  sermons  have 
ye  heard  ?  How  many  seasons  did  I  give  you  for  prayer 
and  retirement,  and  converse  with  God  and  your  own 
souls  ?  Did  you  improve  time  well  ?  Did  you  pray  ? 
Did  you  converse  with  your  souls  and  with  God  ?  Or 
did  you  suffer  time  to  slide  away  in  a  thousand  imper- 
tinences, and  neglect  the  one  thing  necessary?" 

2.  A  fruitless  and  hitter  mourning  for  the  tvaste  and 
abuse  of  time  will  be  another  consequence  of  your  folly. 
Whatsoever  satisfaction  you  may  take  now  in  passing 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  79 

time  away  merrily  and  without  thinking,  it  must  not 
pass  away  so  for  ever.  If  the  approaches  of  death  do  not 
awaken  you,  yet  judgment  will  do  it.  Your  consciences 
will  be  worried  with  terrible  reflections  on  your  foolish 
conduct. 

O  could  we  but  hear  the  complaints  of  the  souls  in 
hell,  what  multitudes  of  them  would  be  found  groan- 
ing out  this  dismal  note,  *'  How  hath  my  time  been  lost 
in  vanity,  and  my  soul  is  now  lost  for  ever  in  distress." 
!How  might  I  have  shone  among  the  saints  in  heaven,  had 
I  wisely  improved  the  time  which  was  given  me  on  pur- 
pose to  prepare  for  death  and  heaven  ?  Then  they  will 
for  ever  curse  themselves,  and  call  themselves  eternal 
fools,  for  hearkening  to  the  temptations  of  flesh  and 
sense,  which  wasted  their  time,  and  deprived  them  of 
eternal  treasures. 

4.  Another  of  the  terrors  which  will  seize  upon  im- 
penitent sinners  at  the  end  of  time,  will  be  endless  de- 
spair of  the  recovery  of  lost  time,  and  of  those  blessings 
whose  hojje  is  for  ever  lost  with  it.  There  are  blessings 
offered  to  sinful,  miserable  men  in  time,  which  will  never 
be  offered  in  eternity,  nor  put  within  their  reach  for  ever. 
The  gospel  hath  no  calls,  no  invitations,  no  encourage- 
ments, no  promises  for  the  dead,  who  have  lost  and  wast- 
ed their  time,  and  are  perished  without  hope.  The 
region  of  sorrow,  whither  the  Judge  shall  drive  impeni- 
tent sinners,  is  a  dark  and  desolate  place,  where  light 
and  hope  can  never  come.  But  fruitless  repentance, 
with  horrors  and  agonies  of  soul,  and  doleful  despair, 
reign  through  that  world,  without  one  gleam  of  light,  or 
hope,  or  one  moment  of  intermission.  Then  will  de- 
spairing sinners  gnaw  tijeir  tongues  for  anguish  of  heart, 
and  curse  themselves  with  long  execrations,  and  curse 
their  fellow  sinners,  wJio  assisted  them  to  waste  their 
time,  and  ruin  their  souls. 

4.  The  last  terror  I  shall  mention  which  will  attend 


80  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

sinners  at  the  end  of  time,  is  an  eternal  suffering  of  all 
the  paiufiil  and  dismal  consequences  of  lost  and  wasted 
time.  Not  one  smile  from  the  face  of  God  for  ever ; 
not  one  glimpse  of  love  or  mercy  in  his  countenance ; 
not  one  vrord  of  grace  from  Jesus  Christ  who  was  once 
the  chief  messenger  of  the  grace  of  God  ;  not  one  favor- 
able regard  from  all  the  holy  saints  and  angels  ;  but  the 
lire  and  brimstone  burn  without  end,  and  the  smoke  of 
this  their  torment  will  ascend  for  ever  and  ever  before 
the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

Who  knows  how  keen  and  bitter  will  be  the  agonies 
of  an  awakened  conscience,  and  the  vengeance  of  a  pro- 
voked God  in  that  world  of  misery  ?  How  will  you  cry 
out,  "  O  what  a  wretch  have  I  been  to  renounce  all  the 
advices  of  a  compassionate  father,  when  he  would  have 
persuaded  me  to  improve  the  time  of  youth  and  health  ! 
Alas,  I  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  advice,  and  now  time 
is  lost,  and  my  hopes  of  mercy  for  ever  perished.  How 
have  I  treated  with  ridicule  among  my  vain  companions, 
the  compassionate  and  pious  counsels  of  my  aged  par- 
ents, who  laboured  for  my  salvation?  How  have  1 
scorned  the  tender  admonitions  of  a  mother,  and  wasted 
that  time  in  sinning  and  sensuality,  which  should  have 
been  spent  in  prayer  and  devotion  ?  And  God  turns  a 
deaf  ear  to  my  cries  now,  and  is  regardless  of  all  my 
groanings.*'  Tliis  sort  of  anguish  of  spirit,  with  loud 
and  cutting  complaints,  would  destroy  life  itself,  and 
these  inward  terrors  would  sting  their  souls  to  death,  if 
there  could  be  any  such  thing  as  dying  there.  Such 
sighs  and  sobs  and  bitter  agonies,  would  break  their 
hearts,  and  dissolve  their  being,  if  the  heart  could  break, 
or  the  being  could  be  dissolved.  But  immortality  is 
their  dreadful  portion,  immortality  of  sorrows  to  punish 
their  wicked  and  wilful  abuse  of  time,  and  that  waste  of 
the  means  of  grace  they  were  guilty  of  in  their  mortal 
state. 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  81 

I  proceed  in  the  last  place  to  consider  what  reflections 
may  be  made  on  this  discourse,  or  what  are  some  of  the 
jjvqfitable  lessons  to  be  learnt  from  it. 

Reflection  I.  We  may  learn  with  great  evidence  the 
inestimable  worth  and  value  of  timey  and  particularly  to 
those  who  are  not  prepared  for  eternity.  Every  hour 
you  live,  is  an  hour  longer  given  you  to  prepare  for  dying, 
and  to  save  a  soul.  If  you  were  but  apprized  of  the 
wortli  of  your  own  souls,  you  would  better  know  the 
worth  of  days  and  hours,  and  of  every  passing  moment, 
for  tliey  are  given  to  secure  your  immortal  interest,  and 
save  a  soul  from  everlasting  misery.  And  you  would 
be  zealous  and  importunate  in  the  prayer  of  Moses,  tlie 
man  of  God,  upon  a  meditation  of  the  sliortness  of  life, 
Psal.  xc.  IS.  ^'So  teach  us  to  number  our  days  as  to 
apply  our  hearts  to  wisdom ;"  i.  e.  so  teach  us  to  con- 
sider liow  few  and  uncertain  our  days  are,  that  we  may 
be  truly  wise  in  preparing  for  the  end  of  them. 

It  is  a  matter  of  vast  importance  to  I)e  ever  ready  for 
the  end  of  time,  ready  to  iiear  this  awful  sentence  con- 
firmed with  the  oath  of  the  glorious  angel,  that  time 
shall  he  no  longer.  The  terrors  or  the  comforts  of  a 
dying  bed  depend  upon  it :  the  solemn  and  decisive 
voice  of  judgment  depends  upon  it :  the  joys  and  the 
sorrows  of  a  long  eternity  depend  upon  it.  Go  now, 
careless  sinner,  and  in  the  view  of  such  things  as  these, 
go  and  trifle  away  time  as  you  have  done  before  :  time, 
that  invaluable  treasure.  Go  and  venture  the  loss  of 
your  souls,  and  the  hopes  of  heaven  and  your  eternal 
happiness,  in  wasting  away  the  remnant  hours  or  mo- 
ments of  life  :  but  remember  the  awful  voice  of  the  an- 
gel is  hastening  towards  you,  and  the  sound  is  just  break- 
ing in  upon  you,  thatfime  shall  he  no  longer. 

Reflection  II.  Jl  due  sense  of  time  hastening  to  its 
period  will  furnish  us  with  perpetual  new  occasions  of 
holy  meditation. 

11 


S2  THE  END  or  TIME. 

Do  I  observe  tlie  declining  day,  and  the  setting  sun 
sinking  into  darkness  ;  so  declines  the  day  of  life,  the 
hours  of  labour,  and  the  season  of  grace.  O  may  I 
finish  my  appointed  work  with  honour  before  the  light 
is  fled  !  May  I  improve  the  shining  hours  of  grace  be- 
fore the  shadows  of  the  evening  overtake  me,  and  my 
time  of  working  is  no  more  ! 

Do  I  see  tlie  moon  gliding  along  through  midnight, 
and  fulfilling  her  stages  in  the  dusky  sky?  this  planet 
also  is  measuring  out  my  life,  and  bringing  the  number 
of  my  months  to  their  end.  May  I  be  prepared  to 
take  leave  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  bid  adieu  to  tliese 
visible  heavens,  and  all  the  twinkling  glories  of  them  ! 
these  are  all  but  tlie  measures  of  my  time,  and  hasten 
me  on  towards  eternity. 

Am  I  walking  in  a  garden  and  stand  still  to  observe 
the  slow  motion  of  tlie  shadow  upon  a  dial  there  ?  It 
passes  over  the  hour-lines  with  an  imperceptible  pro- 
gress, yet  it  will  touch  the  last  line  of  day-light  sliortly  : 
so  my  hours  and  my  moments  move  onward  with  a  silent 
pace ;  but  they  will  arrive  w  ith  certainty  at  the  last 
limit,  hoAV  heedless  soever  I  am  of  their  motion,  and 
how  thouglitless  soever  I  may  be  of  the  improvement  of 
time,  or  of  tlie  end  of  it. 

Does  a  new  year  commence,  and  the  first  morning  of 
it  dawn  upon  me  ?  let  me  remember  that  the  last  year 
was  finished,  and  gone  over  my  head,  in  order  to  make 
way  for  the  entrance  of  the  present :  I  liave  one  year  the 
less  to  travel  through  this  world,  and  to  fulfil  the  vari- 
ous services  of  a  travelling  state.  May  my  diligence  in 
duty  be  doubled,  since  the  number  of  my  appointed 
years  is  diminished. 

Do  I  find  a  new  birth-day  in  my  survey  oi  the  calen- 
der, the  day  wherein  I  entered  upon  the  stage  of  mor- 
tality, and  was  born  into  tliis  world  of  sins,  frailties  and 
sorrows,  in  order  to  my  probation    for  a  better  state 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  8-3 

Elessed  Lord,  how  much  have  I  spent  already  of  this 
mortal  life,  this  season  of  ray  probation,  and  how  little 
am  I  prepared  for  that  happier  w  orld  ?  how  unready 
for  my  dying  moment  ?  I  ara  hastening  hourly  to  the 
end  of  the  life  of  man  which  began  at  my  nativity.  Am 
I  yet  born  of  God  ?  have  I  begun  the  life  of  a  saint  ? 
am  I  prepared  for  that  awful  day  which  shall  determine 
tlie  number  of  ray  months  on  eartli  ?  am  I  fit  to  be  born 
into  the  world  of  spirits  tln-ougli  the  strait  gate  of  death? 
am  I  renewed  in  all  the  powers  of  my  nature,  and  made 
meet  to  enter  into  that  unseen  world,  where  tliere  shall 
be  no  more  of  these  revolutions  of  days  and  years,  but 
one  eternal  day  fills  up  all  the  space  witli  divine  pleas- 
ure, or  one  eternal  night  with  long  deplorable  distress 
and  darkness  ? 

When  I  see  a  friend  expiring,  or  tlie  corps  of  my 
neighbor  conveyed  to  the  grave,  alas  !  Their  months 
and  minutes  are  all  determined,  and  tlie  seasons  of  their 
trial  are  finished  for  ever ;  tliey  are  gone  to  their  eter- 
nal home,  and  the  estate  of  their  souls  is  fixed  unchange- 
ably. Tlie  angel  that  has  sworn  their  time  shall  he  no 
longer^  lias  concluded  their  hopes,  or  has  finished  their 
fears,  and,  according  to  the  rules  of  righteous  judgment, 
has  decided  their  misery  or  happiness  for  a  long  immor- 
tality. Take  this  warning,  O  my  soul,  and  think  of 
thy  own  removal. 

Are  we  standing  in  the  church-yard,  paying  the  last 
honours  to  the  relics  of  our  friends  ?  what  a  number  of 
hillocks  of  death  appear  all  around  us  ?  what  are  the 
tomb-stones,  but  memorials  of  the  inhabitants  of  that 
town,  to  inform  us  of  the  periods  of  all  their  lives,  and 
to  point  out  the  day  when  it  was  said  to  each  of  them, 
your  time  shall  be  no  longer.  O  may  1  readily  learn 
this  important  lesson,  that  my  turn  is  hastening  too  5 
such  a  little  hillock  shall  shortly  arise  for  me  in  some 
unknown  spot  of  ground,  it   shall  cover  this  flesh  and 


84  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

these  bones  of  miue  in  darkness,  and  shall  hide  them 
from  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  from  the  sight  of  man  till 
the  heavens  be  no  more. 

Perhaps  some  kind  surviving  friend  may  engrave  my 
name,  with  the  number  of  my  days,  upon  a  plain  funeral 
stone,  without  ornament,  and  below  envy  :  there  shall 
my  tomb  stand  among  the  rest  as  a  fresh  monument  of 
the  frailty  of  nature  and  the  end  of  time.  It  is  possible 
some  friendly  foot  may  now  and  then  visit  the  place  of 
my  repose,  and  some  tender  eye  may  bedew  t!ie  cold 
memorial  with  a  tear  :  one  or  another  of  my  old  ac- 
quaintance may  possibly  attend  there  to  learn  the  silent 
lecture  of  mortality  from  my  grave-stone  which  my  lips 
are  now  preaching  aloud  to  the  world  :  and  if  love  and 
sorrow  should  reach  so  far,  perhaps  while  his  soul  is 
melting  in  his  eye-lids,  and  his  voice  scarce  finds  an 
utterance,  he  will  point  with  his  finger,  and  shew  his 
companion  the  month  and  the  day  of  my  decease.  0 
that  solemn,  that  awful  day,  which  shall  finisli  my  ap- 
pointed time  on  earth,  and  put  a  full  period  to  all  the 
designs  of  my  heart,  and  all  the  labors  of  my  tongue 
and  pen ! 

Think,  O  my  soul,  that  while  friends  or  strangers  are 
engaged  on  that  spot,  and  reading  the  date  of  thy  de- 
parture hence,  thou  wilt  be  fixed  under  a  decisive  and 
unchangeable  sentence,  rejoicing  in  the  rewards  of  time 
well  improved,  or  suffering  the  long  sorrows  which  shall 
attend  the  abuse  of  it,  in  an  unknown  world  of  happi- 
ness or  misery. 

Reflection  III.  We  may  learn  from  this  discourse, 
the  stupid  folly  and  madness  of  those  who  are  terribly 
afraid  of  the  end  of  time  whensoever  they  think  of  it, 
and  yet  they  know  not  what  to  do  with  their  time  as  it 
runs  off  daily  and  hourly.  They  find  tlieir  souls  un- 
ready for  deatli,  and  yet  they  live  from  year  to  year 
without  any  farther  preparation  for   dying  ;  they  waste 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  85 

away  their  hours  of  leisure  in  mere  trifling,  they  Jose 
their  seasons  of  grace,  their  means  and  opportunities  of 
salvation,  in  a  thoughtless  and  shameful  manner,  as 
though  they  had  no  business  to  employ  tliem  in  ;  they 
live  as  though  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  all  their 
time  but  to  eat  and  drink,  and  be  easy  and  merry.  From 
the  rising  to  the  setting  sun,  you  find  them  still  in  pur- 
suit of  impertincncies  ;  they  waste  God's  sacred  time  as 
well  as  their  own,  either  in  a  lazy,  indolent,  and  care- 
less humor,  or  in  following  after  vanity,  sin  and  mild- 
ness, while  the  end  of  time  is  hastening  upon  them. 

What  multitudes  are  there  of  the  race  of  Adam 
both  in  higher  and  lower  ranks,  who  are  ever  complain- 
ing they  want  leisure ;  and  when  they  have  a  release 
from  business  for  one  day,  or  one  hour,  they  hardly  know 
what  to  do  with  that  idle  day,  nor  how  to  lay  out  one 
of  the  hours  of  it  for  any  valuable  purpose  ?  Those  in 
higher  station  and  richer  circumstances,  have  most  of 
their  time  at  their  own  command  and  disposal ;  but  by 
their  actual  disposal  of  it,  you  plainly  see  they  know  not 
what  it  is  good  for,  nor  what  use  to  make  of  it ;  they 
are  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  get  rid  of  this  tedious  thing 
called  time,  which  lies  daily  as  a  burden  on  their  hands. 
Indeed  if  their  head-ache,  or  their  face  grow  pale,  and 
a  physician  feel  their  pulse,  or  look  wishfully  on  their 
countenance  ;  and  especially  if  he  should  shake  his 
head,  or  tell  them  his  fears  that  they  will  not  hold  out 
long,  what  surprise  of  soul,  what  agonies  and  terrors 
seize  them  on  a  sudden  for  fear  of  the  end  of  time?  For 
they  are  conscious  how  unfit  they  are  for  eternity  :  yet 
when  the  pain  vanishes  and  they  feel  health  again,  they 
are  as  much  at  a  loss  as  ever  what  to  do  with  the  rem- 
nant of  life. 

O  the  painful  and  tlie  unhappy  ignorance  of  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  men,  that  are  sent  hither  on  a  trial  for 
eternity,  and  yet  know  not  how  to  pass  away  time  !  they 


86  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

know  not  liow  to  wear  out  life,  and  get  soon  enough  to 
the  end  of  the  day  :  they  doze  their  hours  away,  or 
saunter  from  place  to  place^  without  any  design  or  mean- 
ing ;  tliey  enquire  of  every  one  tliey  meet,  wJiat  they 
shall  do  to  Mil  time,  (as  the  French  phrase  is.)  because 
they  cannot  spend  it  fast  enough  :  tliey  are  perpetually 
calling  in  the  assistance  of  others  to  laugh,  or  sport,  or 
trifle  witli  them,  and  to  help  them  oft'  A\ilh  this  dead 
weight  of  time,  while  at  the  same  UKunent,  if  you  do 
but  mention  the  end  of  time,  tliey  arc  dreadfully  afraid 
of  coming  near  it.  What  folly  and  distraction  is  this  ? 
What  sottisli  inconsistency  is  found  in  tlie  heart  and 
practice  of  sinful  men,  Eccles.  ix.  3 ;  The  heart  of  the 
sons  of  men  ^  is  full  of  evil,  madness  is  in  their  heart 
while  they  live,  and  after  that  they  go  doicn  to  the  dead. 
O  that  these  loiterers  would  once  consider  that  time 
loiters  not ;  days  and  hours,  months  and  years,  loiter 
not ;  each  of  them  flies  away  with  swiftest  wing,  as  fast 
as  succession  admits  of,  and  bears  them  onward  to  the 
goal  of  eternity.  If  they  delay  and  linger  among  toys 
and  shadows,  time  knows  no  delay;  and  they  will  one 
day  learn  by  bitter  experience  what  substantial,  impor- 
tant, and  eternal  blessings  they  have  lost  by  their  crim- 
inal and  shameful  waste  of  time.  The  apostle  Peter 
assures  them,  2.  Pet.  ii.  3  ;  thougli  they  slumber  and 
fleep  in  a  lethargy  of  sin,  so  that  you  cannot  awaken 
them,  yet  their  judgment  lingereth  not,  and  their  dam- 
nation slumhereth  not.  The  awful  moment  is  hasting 
upon  tiiem  which  shall  teach  them  terribly  the  true 
value  of  time  ;  then  they  would  give  all  the  golden  pleas- 
ures, and  the  riclies  and  the  grandeur  of  this  world,  to 
purchase  one  short  day  more,  or  one  hour  of  time, 
wherein  tliey  might  repent  and  return  to  God,  and  get 
within  the  reach  of  hope  and  salvation.  But  time,  and 
salvation  and  hope,  are  all  vanished,  and  fled,  and  gone 
out  of  their  reach  for  ever. 


THE  END  OF  TIJVIE.  §7 

ilejlection  lY.  Learn  from  such  meditations  as  these, 
tJie  rich  mercy  of  God,  and  ihe  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  giving  us  so  long  a  warning,  before  he  swears 
that  time  sliall  be  no  more.  Every  stroke  of  sickness 
is  a  warning-piece  that  life  is  coming  to  its  period  ; 
every  death  amongst  our  friends  and  acquaintance,  is 
another  tender  and  painful  admonition  that  our  death 
also  is  at  hand.  Tiie  end  of  every  week  and  every 
dawning  Sabbath  is  another  warning  ;  every  sermon  we 
liear  of  the  shortness  of  time,  and  the  lincertaintij  of  life, 
is  a  fresh  intimation  that  tJie  great  angel  will  shortly 
pronounce  a  period  upon  all  our  time.  How  inexcusa- 
ble shall  we  be  if  we  turn  the  deaf  ear  to  all  these  Avarn- 
iugs  ?  St.  Peter  advises  us  to  count  the  long  suffering 
of  the  Lord  for  salvation.  3  Pet.  iii.  15  ;  and  to  secure 
our  eternal  safety,  and  our  escape  from  liell,  during  the 
season  of  his  lengthened  grace. 

Alas  !  How  long  has  Jesus,  and  his  mercy,  and  Jiis 
gospel,  waited  on  you,  before  you  began  to  tliiuk  of  the 
things  of  your  everlasting  peace?  xlnd  if  you  arc  now 
solemnly  awakened,  yet  how  long  has  he  waited  on  you 
with  fresh  admonitions,  and  with  special  providences, 
with  mercies  and  judgments,  with  promises  and  invita- 
tions of  grace,  with  threatnings  and  words  of  terror,  and 
w  ith  the  whispers  and  advices  of  his  own  spirit,  since 
you  began  to  see  your  danger  ?  And  after  all,  have  you 
yet  sincerely  repented  of  sin  ?  Have  you  yet  received 
the  offered  grace  ?  Have  you  given  up  yourselves  to  the 
Lord  and  laid  liold  of  his  salvation  ?  3  Cor.  vi.  S.  This 
is  the  accented  time,  this  is  the  day  of  salvation  ;  To-day 
if  ye  ivill  hear  his  voice  harden  not  your  hearts.  Heb.  iii. 
7,  8,  §'c.  It  is  never  said  tln-ough  all  the  Bible,  tliat 
to-morrow  is  the  day  of  grace,:  or  to-morrow  is  the  time 
of  accejitance.  It  is  the  present  liour  only  that  is  offered. 
Every  day  and  every  hour  is  a  mercy  of  unknown  im- 
portance to  sinful  men.     It  is  a  mercy,  O  sinners,  that 


88  THE  END  OP  TIME. 

you  awake  not  this  morning  in  liell,  and  that  you  were 
not  fixed  without  remedy  beyond  the  reach  of  hope  and 
mercy. 

Reflection  V.  Learn  from  this  discourse  what  a  very 
useful  practice  it  tvould  be  to  set  ourselves  often  before 
hand  as  at  the  end  of  time,  to  imagine  ourselves  just 
under  the  sound  of  the  voice  of  this  mighty  Angel,  or  at 
the  tribunal  of  Christ,  and  to  call  our  souls  to  a  solemn 
account  in  what  manner  we  liave  past  away  all  our  lei- 
sure time  hitherto  :  I  mean,  all  that  time  which  hath  not 
been  laid  out  in  the  necessities  of  the  natural  life  for  its 
support  and  its  needful  refreshment,  or  in  tlie  due  and 
proper  employments  of  the  civil  life.  Both  these  are 
allowed  and  required  by  the  God  of  nature  and  the  God 
of  providence  who  goverus  the  world.  Bat  what  hast 
thou  done  O  man  ;  O  woman,  what  hast  tliou  done  with 
all  the  hours  of  leisure  wliich  might  liave  been  laid  out 
on  far  better  employments,  and  to  far  nobler  purposes  ? 
Give  me  leave  to  enter  into  particulars  a  little,  for  gen- 
erals do  but  seldom  convince  the  mind,  or  awaken  the 
conscience,  or  affect  the  heart. 

1.  Have  you  not  slumbered  or  squandered  away  too 
much  time  without  any  useful  'purpose  or  design  at  all? 
How  many  are  there,  that  when  they  have  morning  hours 
on  their  hands,  can  pass  them  off  on  their  beds,  and  lose 
and  forget  time  in  a  little  more  sleep  and  a  little  more 
slumber  ;  a  few  impertinencies  with  breakfast  and  dress- 
ing  wear  out  the  morning  without  God.  And  how  many 
afternoon  and  evening  hours  are  worn  away  in  such 
sauntering  idleness  as  I  have  described,  that  when  the 
night  comes  they  cannot  review  one  half  hour's  useful 
work,  from  the  da^vn  of  the  morning  to  the  hour  of  rest. 
Time  is  gone  and  vanislied,  and  as  they  knew  not  Avhat 
to  do  witli  it  while  it  was  present,  so  now  it  is  past,  they 
know  not  what  they  have  done  with  it.  They  keep  no 
account  of  it,  and  are  never  prepared  to  come  to  a  reck- 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  §0 

oniiig.     But  will  the  great  Judge  of  all  take  this  for 
answer  to  such  a  solemn  inquiry  ? 

2.  Have  you  never  laid  out  much  more  time  than  was 
needful  in  recreations  and  pleasures  of  sense  ?  recrea- 
tions are  not  unlawful  so  far  as  they  are  necessary  and 
proper  to  relieve  the  fatigue  of  the  spirits,  when  they  are 
tired  with  business  or  labor,  and  to  prepare  for  new 
labors  and  new  business.  But  have  we  not  followed 
sports  without  measure  and  without  due  limitation? 
Hath  not  some  of  tliat  very  time  been  spent  in  them 
which  should  have  been  laid  out  in  preparing  for  death 
and  eternity,  and  in  seeking  things  of  far  higher  impor- 
tance ? 

3.  Have  you  not  wasted  too  niucli  time  in  your  fre- 
qnent  clubs ,  and  what  you  call  good  company,  and  in 
places  of  public  resort.  Hath  not  the  tavern,  or  the 
coffee-house,  or  the  ale-house,  seen  and  known  you  from 
hour  to  hour  for  a  whole  evening,  and  that  sometimes 
before  the  trade  or  labors  of  the  day  should  have  been 
ended  ?  And  when  your  Bible  and  your  closet,  or  the 
devotion  of  your  family,  have  sometimes  called  upon 
your  conscience,  have  you  not  turned  the  deaf  ear  to 
them  all  ? 

4.  Have  not  useless  and  impertinent  visits  heenvuside 
to  no  good  purpose,  or  been  prolonged  beyond  all  ne- 
cessity or  improvement  ?  When  your  conversation  runs 
low  even  to  the  dregs,  and  both  you  and  your  friends  have 
been  at  a  loss  what  to  say  next,  and  knew  not  how  to  fill 
up  the  time,  yet  the  visit  must  go  on,  and  time  must  be 
wasted.  Sometimes  tlie  wind  and  the  weather,  and 
twenty  insignificancies,  or  (what  is  much  worse)  scandal 
of  persons  or  families,  have  come  into  your  relief,  that 
there  might  not  be  too  long  a  silence ;  but  not  one  word  of 
God  or  goodness  could  find  room  to  enter  in  and  relieve 
the  dull  hour.  Is  none  of  this  time  ever  to  be  accounted 
for  ?  And  will  it  sound  well  in   the  ears  of  tlie   great 

12 


90  THE  END  OF  TIME, 

Judge,  "  We  ran  to  these  sorry  topics,  these  slanderous 
and  backbiting  stories,  because  we  could  not  tell  what 
to  talk  of,  and  we  knew  not  how  to  spend  our  time." 

5.  Have  you  not  been  guilty  of  frequent  and  even 
perpetual  delays  or  neglects  of  your  proper  necessary 
business  in  tJie  civil  life,  or  in  the  solemn  duties  of  re- 
ligion, by  busying  yourselves  in  some  other  needless 
thing  under  this  pretence,  it  is  time  enough  yet  P 

Have  you  learnt  that  important  and  eternal  rule  of 
prudence,  never  delay  till  to-morrow  what  may  be  done 
to-day  ;  never  put  off  till  the  next  hour  what  may  be  done 
in  this  ?  Have  you  not  often  experienced  your  own  dis- 
appointment and  folly  by  these  delays  ?  And  yet  have 
you  ever  so  repented  as  to  learn  to  mend  them  ?  Sol- 
omon tells  us,  Eccles.  iii.  1,  There  is  a  time  for  every 
furpose,  and  every  work,  under  the  sun.  A  proper  and 
agreeable  time  for  every  lawful  work  of  nature  and  life. 
And  it  is  the  business  and  care  of  a  wise  man,  to  do 
proper  work  in  proper  time  ;  but  when  we  have  let  slip 
the  proper  season,  how  often  have  we  been  utterly  dis- 
appointed? Have  we  not  sustained  great  inconvenien- 
cies  ?  And  sometimes  it  hath  so  happened  that  we 
could  never  do  that  work  or  business  at  all,  because 
another  proper  season  for  it  hath  never  offered.  Time 
hath  been  no  more.  Felix  put  off  his  discourse  with 
Paul  about  Hlq  faith  of  Christ,  and  righteousness,  and 
judgment  to  come,  to  a  more  convenient  time,  which 
probably  never  came  ;  Acts  xxiv.  25.  And  the  word  of 
God  teaches  us,  that  if  we  neglect  our  salvation  in  the 
present  day  of  grace,  the  angel  in  my  text  is  ready  to 
swear,  that  time  shall  he  no  longer. 

Here  permit  me  to  put  in  a  short  word  to  those  who 
have  lost  much  time  already. 

O  my  friends,  begin  now  to  do  what  in  you  lies  to  re- 
gain it,  by  double  diligence  in  the  matters  of  your  salva- 
tion, lest  the  voice  of  the  arch  angel  should  finish  your 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  91 

time  of  trial,  and  call  you  to  judgment  before  you  are 
prepared. 

What  time  lies  before  you  for  this  double  improvement 
God  only  knows.  The  remnant  of  the  measure  of  your 
days  are  with  him,  and  every  evening  the  number  is 
diminished.  Let  not  the  rising  sun  upbraid  you  with 
continued  negligence.  Remember  your  former  abuses 
of  hours,  and  months,  and  years,  in  folly  and  sin,  or  at 
best  in  vanity  and  trifling.  Let  these  thoughts  of  your 
past  conduct  lie  with  such  an  effectual  weight  on  your 
hearts,  as  to  keep  you  ever  vigorous  in  present  duty. 
Since  you  have  been  so  lazy  and  loitering  in  your  chris- 
tian race  in  time  past,  take  larger  steps  daily,  and  stretch 
all  the  powers  of  your  souls  to  hasten  towards  the  crown 
and  the  prize.  Hearken  to  the  voice  of  God  in  his 
word,  with  stronger  attention  and  zeal  to  profit.  Pray 
to  a  long  suffering  God  with  double  fervency.  Cry 
aloud,  antl  give  him  no  rest  till  your  sinful  soul  is  changed 
into  penitence,  and  renewed  to  holiness,  till  you  have 
some  good  evidences  of  your  sincere  love  to  God,  and 
unfeigned  faith  in  his  Son  Jesus.  Never  be  satisfied, 
till  you  are  come  to  a  well  grounded  hope  through  grace, 
that  God  is  your  friend,  your  reconciled  Father ;  that 
when  days  and  months  are  no  more,  you  may  enter  into 
the  region  of  everlasting  light  and  peace. 

But  I  proceed  to  the  last  general  remark.  Learn  the 
unspeakable  happiness  of  those  who  have  improved  time 
wellf  and  who  wait  for  the  end  of  time  with  christian 
hope.  They  are  not  afraid,  or  at  least  they  need  not  be 
afraid  of  the  sentence,  nor  the  oath  of  this  mighty  angel, 
when  he  lifts  up  his  hand  to  heaven,  and  swears  with  a 
loud  voice.  There  shall  he  time  no  more. 

O  blessed  creatures,  who  have  so  happily  improved 
the  time  of  life  and  day  of  grace,  as  to  obtain  the  restor- 
ation of  the  image  of  God  in  some  degree,  on  their  souls, 
and  to  recover  the  favor  of  God  through  the  gospel  of 


9S  THE  END  OF  TIME, 

Christ ;  for  which  end,  time  was  bestowed  upon  them. 
They  have  reviewed  their  follies  with  shame  in  the  land 
of  hope  ;  they  have  mourned  and  repented  of  sin,  ere 
the  season  of  repentance  was  past,  and  are  become  new 
creatures,  and  their  lips  and  their  lives  declare  the  divine 
change.  They  have  made  preparation  for  death,  for 
which  purpose  life  and  time  were  given.  Happy  souls 
indeed,  who  have  so  valued  time  as  not  to  let  it  run  ojff 
in  trifles,  but  have  obtained  treasures  more  valuable  than 
that  time  which  is  gone,  even  the  riches  of  the  covenant 
of  grace,  and  the  hopes  of  an  eternal  inheritance  in  glory. 

Happy  such  souls  indeed,  when  time  is  no  more  with 
them !  Their  happiness  begins  when  the  duration  of 
their  mortal  life  is  finished.  Let  us  survey  this  their 
happiness  in  a  few  particulars. 

The  time  of  their  darkness  and  difficulties  is  no  lon- 
ger. The  time  of  painful  ignorance  and  error  is  come 
to  an  end.  You  shall  wander  no  more  in  mistake  and 
folly.  You  shall  behold  all  things  in  the  light  of  God, 
and  see  him  face  to  face,  who  is  the  original  beauty  and 
the  eternal  truth.  You  shall  see  him  Avithout  vails  and 
shadows,  without  the  reflecting  glass  of  his  word  and  or- 
dinances, which  at  best  give  us  but  a  faint  glimpse  of 
him,  either  in  his  nature  or  wisdom,  his  power  or  good- 
ness. You  shall  see  him  in  himself,  and  in  his  Son 
Jesus,  the  brighest  and  fairest  image  of  the  Father,  and 
shall  know  him  as  you  are  known  ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  10,  13. 

There  is  no  more  time  for  temptation  and  danger. 
Wlien  once  you  are  got  beyond  the  limits  of  this  visible 
world,  all  the  enticing  objects  of  flesh  and  sense,  there 
shall  be  no  more  hazard  of  your  salvation,  no  more 
doubting  and  distressing  fears  a])out  your  interest  in  your 
Father's  love,  or  in  the  salvation  of  his  beloved  Son. 

There  is  no  more  time  nor  place  for  sin  to  inhabit  in 
you.  The  lease  of  its  habitation  in  your  mortal  body 
must  end,  when  the  body  itself  falls  into  the  dust.     You 


THE  END  OF  TIME.  93 

shall  feel  no  more  of  its  powerful  and  defiling  operations 
either  in  heart  or  life  for  ever. 

The  time  of  conjlict  with  your  spiritual  adversaries  is 
no  longer.  There  is  no  more  warfare  betwixt  the  flesh 
and  spirit ;  no  more  combat  with  tlie  world  and  the  devil, 
who,  by  a  thousand  ways,  have  attempted  to  deceive 
you,  and  to  bear  you  off  from  your  heavenly  hope.  Your 
warfare  is  accomplished  ;  your  victory  is  complete  ;  you 
are  made  overcomers  through  him  that  has  loved  you. 
Death  is  the  last  enemy  to  be  overcome  :  the  sting  of  it 
is  already  taken  away ;  and  you  have  now  finished  the 
conquest,  and  are  assured  of  the  crown  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  5Q^57^ 

The  time  of  your  distance  and  absence  from  God  is  no 
more.  The  time  of  coldness  and  indifference,  and  the 
fearful  danger  of  backslidings,  is  no  more.  You  shall 
be  made  as  pillars  in  the  temple  of  your  God,  and  shall 
go  no  more  out.  He  shall  love  you  like  a  God,  and 
kindle  the  flames  of  your  love  to  so  intense  a  degree,  as 
is  only  known  to  angels,  and  to  the  spirits  of  the  just 
made  perfect. 

There  is  no  more  lime  for  you  to  be  vexed  with  the 
society  of  sinful  creatures.  Your  spirit  within  you  shall 
be  no  more  ruffled  and  disquieted  with  the  teazing  con- 
versation of  the  wicked  ;  nor  shall  you  be  interrupted  in 
your  holy  and  hea^^enly  exercises  by  any  of  the  enemies 
of  Grod  and  his  grace. 

The  time  of  your  painful  labors  and  sufferings  is  no 
more.  Rev.  xiv.  13.  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die 
in  the  Lord ;  for  they  rest  from  all  their  labors  "  that 
carry  toil  or  fatigue  with  them.  There  shall  be  no 
more  complaints  nor  groans  ;  no  sorrow  or  crying  :  the 
springs  of  grief  are  for  ever  dried  up  :  neither  shall  there 
be  any  more  pain  in  the  flesh  or  the  spirit.  God  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  your  eyes  ;  and  death  shall  be 
no  more  ;  Rev.  xxi.  4. 

It  is  finished,  said  our  blessed  Lord  on  the  cross.     It 


94?  THE  END  OF  TIME. 

is  finished^  may  every  one  of  his  followers  say  at  the 
hour  of  death,  and  at  the  end  of  time.  My  sins  and  fol- 
lies, my  distresses  and  my  sufferings,  are  finished  for 
ever  ;  and  the  mighty  angel  swears  to  it,  that  the  time  of 
these  evils  is  no  longer.  They  are  vanished,  and  shall 
never  return.  O  happy  souls,  who  have  been  so  wise 
to  count  the  short  and  uncertain  number  of  your  days  on 
earth,  as  to  make  an  early  provision  for  a  removal  to 
heaven.  Blest  are  you  above  all  the  powers  of  present 
thought  and  language.  Days,  and  months,  and  years, 
and  all  these  short  and  painful  periods  of  time,  shall  be 
swallowed  up  in  a  long  and  blissful  eternity.  The 
stream  of  time  which  has  run  between  the  banks  of  this 
mortal  life,  and  bore  you  along  amidst  many  dangerous 
rocks  of  temptation,  fear  and  sorrow,  shall  launch  you 
out  into  the  ocean  of  pleasures  which  have  no  period. 
Those  felicities  must  be  everlasting,  for  duration  has  no 
limit  there.  Time,  witli  all  its  measures,  shall  he  no 
more.    Amen. 


DISCOURSE   II. 


THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN  DYING  IN 
PEACE. 

Occasioned  by  the  decease  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Abney, 
daughter  of  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Abney,  Knt.  &c. 
Preached,  April  2,  1733. 

Dedicated  to  the  Lady  Abney,  mother  of  the  deceased^ 
and  to  Mrs.  Mary  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Abney, 
her  two  surviving  sisters. 

Madam, 

IF  sorrows  could  be  diminished  in  proportion  to 
the  multitude  of  those  who  share  in  them,  the  spring  of 
your  tears  would  have  been  drawn  almost  dry,  and  the 
tide  of  grief  have  sunk  low,  by  being  divided  into  a 
thousand  streams.  But  though  this  cannot  afford  perfect 
relief  to  your  Ladyship,  yet  it  must  be  some  consolation 
to  have  been  blessed  with  a  daughter,  whose  removal 
ft'om  our  world  could  give  occasion  for  so  general  a 
mourning. 

I  confess,  Madam,  the  wound  which  was  made  by 
such  a  smarting  stroke,  is  not  to  be  healed  in  a  day  or 
two  ;  reason  permits  some  risings  of  the  softer  and  kinder 
passions  in  such  a  season ;  it  shews  at  least,  that  our 
hearts  are  not  marble,  and  reveals  the  tender  ingredients 
that  are  moulded  up  in  our  frame.  Nor  does  religion 
permit  us  to  be  insensible  when  a  God  afflicts,  though 
he  doth  it  with  the  hand  of  a  father  and  a  friend.     Na- 


96  THE  DEDICATION. 

ture  and  love  are  full  of  these  sensibilities,  and  incline 
you  to  miss  her  presence  in  every  place  where  she  was 
wont  to  attend  you,  and  where  you  rejoiced  in  her  as  one 
of  your  dearest  blessings.  She  is  taken  away  indeed 
from  mortal  sight,  and  to  follow  her  remains  to  the  grave, 
and  to  dwell  there,  gives  but  a  dark  and  melancholy  view, 
till  the  great  rising  day.  Faith  may  ken  the  distant 
prospect,  and  exult  in  the  sight  of  that  glorious  futurity  ; 
yet  I  think  there  is  also  a  nearer  relief,  Madam,  to  your 
sorrows.  By  the  virtues  which  shone  in  her  life,  you 
may  trace  the  ascent  of  her  spirit  to  the  world  of  immor- 
tality and  joy.  Could  your  Ladyship  keep  the  eye  of 
your  soul  directed  thither,  you  would  find  it  an  effectual 
balm  for  a  heart,  that  lileeds  at  the  painful  remem- 
brance of  her  death.  What  could  your  Ladyship  have 
asked  as  a  higher  favor  of  heaven,  than  to  have  born  and 
trained  up  a  child  for  that  glorious  inheritance,  and  to 
have  her  secured  of  that  possession,  beyond  all  possible 
fear  or  danger  of  losing  it. 

This,  Madam,  is  your  own  divinest  hope  for  your- 
self ;  and  you  are  hastening  on  toward  that  blessed  society 
as  fast  as  days  and  hours  give  leave.  When  your 
thoughts  descend  to  this  lower  world  again,  there  are 
two  living  comforts  near  you  of  the  same  kind  with 
what  you  have  lost.  May  your  Ladyship  rejoice  in 
them  yet  many  years,  and  they  in  you  !  And  when 
Jesus,  who  hath  the  keys  of  death  and  the  invisble  state, 
shall  appoint  the  hour  for  your  ascent  to  heaven,  may 
you  leave  tliem  behind  to  bless  the  world  with  fair  exam- 
ples of  virtue  and  piety  among  men,  and  a  long  train  of 
services  for  the  interest  of  their  Redeemer. 

If  I  were  to  say  any  thing,  Young  Ladies,  to  you  in 
particular,  it  should  be  in  tlie  language  of  our  Saviour 
and  his  beloved  apostle — »•  Hold  fast  what  you  have  till 
the  Lord  comes,  that  none  may*'  deprive  you  "  of  your 
crown.     Take  heed  to  yourselves,  tjiat  you  lose  not  the 


THE  DEDICATION.*  9^ 

things  which  you  have  wrought,  but  that  ye  receive  a  full 
reward."  Go  on,  and  persevere  as  you  have  begun,  in 
the  path  of  true  religion  and  happiness.  And  in  this  age 
of  infidelity  and  degenerate  life,  be  ye  daily  more  estab- 
lished in  the  christian  faith  and  practice,  in  opposition 
to  the  smiles  and  frowns,  and  every  snare  of  a  vain  and 
delusive  world.  Let  this  one  thought  set  a  double  guard 
upon  you,  that  while  your  elder  sister  was  with  you,  it 
was  something  easier  to  resist  every  temptation,  when 
she  had  pronounced  the  first  refusal.  Her  steadiness 
was  a  guard  which  you  have  now  lost ;  but  you  have 
an  Almighty  God  in  covenant  on  your  side ;  and  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  is  sufficient  for  you. 

To  his  care,  my  Lady,   I   commend  yourself,   and 
your  whole  family,  with  aifectionate  petitions ;  and  am, 
Madam, 

Your  Ladyship's  most  obliged 

and  faithful  servant, 

I.  WATTS. 

London,  April  ^,  173S. 


THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN  DYING  IN 
PEACE. 


A  FUNERAL  SERMON. 

IT  is  anawfi^l  providence  which  hath  lately  removed 

from  among  us  a  youtig  person  well  known  to  most  of 

you,  whose  agreeable  temper  and  conduct  had  gained 

the  esteem  of  all  her  acquaintance^  whose  constitution  of 

13 


9S  1  HE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

body,  together  with  the  furniture  of  her  mind,  and  cir- 
cumstances in  the  world,  concurred  to  promise  many 
future  years  of  life  and  usefulness.  But  all  that  is  born 
of  the  race  of  man  is  frail  and  mortal ;  and  all  that 
is  done  by  the  hand  of  God  is  wise  and  holy.  We 
mourn,  and  we  submit  in  silence.  Yet  the  providence 
hath  a  voice  in  it  ;  and  the  friends  of  the  deceased  are 
very  solicitous  that  such  an  unexpected  and  instructive 
appearance  of  death,  might  be  religiously  improved  to  the 
benefit  of  the  living.  For  this  end  1  am  desired  to  enter- 
tain you  at  present,  with  some  meditations  on  those  words 
of  our  Saviour,  which  you  read  in 

LUKE,  xii.  37. 

Blessed  are  tJiose  servants,  wJiom  the  Lord,  when  he 

Cometh,  shall  find  watching. 

VARIOUS  and  well  chosen  are  those  parables 
whereby  our  Saviour  gave  warning  to  his  disciples, 
that  when  he  was  departed  from  this  world,  they  s  hould 
ever  be  upon  their  guard,  and  always  in  a  readiness  to 
receive  him  at  his  return ;  because  he  would  come  on  a 
sudden,  and  in  such  an  hour  as  they  thought  not,  to  de- 
mand an  account  of  their  behavior,  and  to  distribute  his 
recompences  according  to  their  works.  There  are  two 
of  these  parables  in  this  chapter.  But  to  enter  into  a 
detail  of  all  the  particular  metaphors  whicli  relate  to  this 
one,  whence  I  have  boiTOwed  my  text,  would  be  too  tedi- 
ous here,  and  would  spend  too  much  of  the  present  hour. 
Without  any  longer  preface,  therefore,  I  shall  apply 
myself  to  improve  the  words  to  our  spiritual  profit,  in  tlie 
following  method. 

I.  I  shall  enquire  what  is  meant  by  the  coming  of  Christ 
m  the  text,  and  how  it  may  be  properly  applied  to  our 
present  purpose,  or  the  hour  of  death. 

II.  I  shall  consider  what  is  implied  in  the  watchfulness 
which  our  Saviour  recommends^ 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  99 

III.  I  propose  some  considerations  which  will  discover 
the  blessedness  of  the  watchful  soul  in  a  dying  hour. 

IV.  I  shall  add  some  practical  remarks. 

First,  Let  iis  enquire  what  is  meant  by  the  coming  of 
Christ  in  my  i^xi. 

The  coming  of  Christ,  in  some  of  these  parables,  may 
have  reference  to  his  speedy  appearance  in  the  course 
of  his  providence  in  that  very , age,  to  judge  and  punish 
the  Jewish  nation,  to  destroy  tlieir  city,  and  put  an  end 
to  their  church  and  state,  for  their  many  heinous  iniqui- 
ties, and  the  most  provoking  crime  of  rejecting  and  cru- 
cifying the  Son  of  God.  But  these  words,  in  their  su- 
preme and  most  important  sense,  always  point  to  the 
glorious  appearance  of  Christ  at  the  last  day,  when  he 
shall  come  to  shut  up  all  the  scenes  of  this  frail  life,  to 
put  an  end  to  the  present  world,  to  finish  all  the  works  of 
this  mortal  state,  and  to  decide  and  determine  the  eternal 
states  of  all  mankind  by  the  general  judgment. 

Yet  Christ  comes  to  each  of  us  in  >he  hour  of  death 
also,  for  he  hath  the  keys  of  death  and  of  hell,  or  of  the 
invisible  world ;  Rev.  i.  18.  It  is  he  who  appoints  the 
very  moment  when  the  soul  shall  be  dismissed  from 
this  flesh,  he  opens  the  doors  of  the  grave  for  the  dying 
body ;  and  he  is  Lord  of  the  world  of  spirits,  and  lets 
in  new  inhabitants  every  minute  into  those  unseen  re- 
gions of  immortal  sorrow,  or  immortal  peace. 

And  as  Christ  may  be  said  to  come  to  us  by  the  mes- 
sage or  summons  of  death,  so  the  many  solemn  writings 
and  commands  of  watchfulness,  which  attend  these  par- 
ables of  Christ,  have  been  usually,  and  with  good  rea- 
son, applied  to  the  hour  of  death  also,  for  then  the  Lord 
comes  to  shut  up  the  scene  of  each  of  our  lives,  our  works 
are  then  finished,  our  last  day  is  come,  and  the  world  is 
then  at  an  end  with  us. 

Let  it  be  observed  also,  that  there  is  a  further  paral- 
lel between  the  day  of  the  general  judgment^  and  that 


100  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

of  our  own  death.  The  one  will  as  certainly  come  as 
the  other,  but  the  time  when  Christ  will  come  in  either 
of  these  senses,  is  unknown  to  us  and  uncertain.  And 
it  is  this,  which  renders  the  duty  of  perpetual  watchful- 
ness so  necessary  to  all  men.  The  parable  assures  us, 
that  our  Lord  will  certainly  come,  but  whether  at  the 
second  or  third  watch,  whether  at  midnight,  or  at  cock- 
crowing,  or  near  the  morning,  this  is  all  uncertainty  ; 
yet  whensoever  he  comes,  he  expects  we  should  have 
our  loins  girded,  like  servants  fit  for  business,  and  our 
lamps  burning,  to  attend  him  at  the  door  ;  and  that  we 
be  ready  to  receive  him  as  soon  as  he  knocks. 

Were  the  appointed  hour  oi  judgment,  or  of  death,  made 
known  to  us  for  months  or  years  before-hand,  we  should 
be  ready  to  think  constant  watch  fulness  a  very  needless 
thing.  Mankind  would  persuade  themselves  to  indulge 
their  foolish  and  sinful  slumbers,  and  only  take  care  to 
rub  their  eyes  a  little,  and  bestir  themselves  an  hour  or 
two  before  this  awful  event.  But  it  is  the  suddenness 
and  uncertainty  of  the  coming  of  Christ  to  all  mankind, 
for  either  of  these  purposes,  that  extends  the  charge  of 
watchfulness  to  all  men  as  well  as  to  the  apostles,  Mark 
xiii.  37 ;  and  that  calls  upon  us  aloud  to  keep  our  souls 
ever  awake,  lest  (as  our  Lord  there  expresses  it,)  com- 
ing suddenly  he  should  find  us  sleeping.  And  remem- 
ber this,  that  if  we  are  unprepared  to  meet  the  Lord  at 
death,  we  can  never  be  ready  when  he  comes  to  judg- 
ment. Peace  and  blessedness  attend  the  watchful 
Christian,  whensoever  his  Lord  cometh.  Blessed  is 
that  servant,  ichom,  when  his  Lord  comes  he  shall  find 
watching.     This  leads  me  to  the  second  general  head. 

Secondly,  What  is  implied  in  watchfulness. 

Jlnswer.  In  general,  it  is  opposed  to  sleeping  as  I 
have  already  hinted,  in  Mark  xiii.  35,  36.  And  in  the 
language  of  scripture,  as  well  as  in  common  speech,  sleep 
and  slumbering,  denote  an  unpreparedness  to  receive 


DYING  IN  PEACE,  IQI 

whatever  comes,  for  this  is  the  case  with  those  who  are 
asleep.  On  the  other  hand,  watchfulness  is  a  prepara- 
tion and  readiness  for  every  event,  and  so  it  is  express- 
ed in  some  of  these  parables^  ver.  40.  Be  ye  therefore 
ready.     But  to  enter  into  a  few  particulars. 

1.  There  is  a  sleep  of  death,  Psal.  xiii.  3.  Spiritual 
death  as  well  as  natural,  is  sometimes  called  a  sleep. 
Such  is  the  case  of  a  soul  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins, 
Eph.  V.  14,  compared  with  ii.  1.  "Awake  thou  that 
sleepest  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give 
thee  light.'^ 

Watchfulness  therefore  implies  life,  a  principle  of 
spiritual  life  in  the  soul.  Surely  those  who  are  dead  in 
sins  are  not  prepared  to  receive  their  Lord  ;  he  is  a 
perfect  stranger  to  them,  they  know  him  not,  they  love 
him  not,  they  obey  him  not ;  and  a  terrible  stranger  he 
will  be^  if  he  comes  upon  them  before  they  are  awake. 
But  those  who  are  awakened  by  divine  grace  into  a 
spiritual  life,  have  seen  something  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  are  acquainted  with 
their  Lord,  they  love  him,  and  have  some  degree  of 
preparation  to  meet  their  Saviour  when  he  summons 
them  to  leave  this  world.  This  is  therefore  a  matter  of 
highest  consequence,  that  we  awake  from  a  state  of  sin 
and  death,  that  we  be  made  alive  to  God,  begin  the 
christian  life,  and  set  upon  religion  in  good  earnest,  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  the  gospel,  before  Christ  calls  us 
away.  It  is  only  this  divine  life  begun  in  us,  that  can 
secure  us  from  eternal  death ;  tJiough  even  Christians 
may  be  found  slumbering  in  other  respects,  and  expose 
themselves  to  painful  evils,  if  that  hour  surprise  them 
at  unawares. 

2.  There  is  a  sleep  of  indolence  and  thoughtlessness  ; 
when  a  man  is  insensible  of  his  own  circumstances,  and 
too  careless  of  the  things  which  most  concern  him,  and 
we  say,  the  man  is  asleep.     Such  a  sleep  seems  to  be 


103  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

upon  the  cimrch  of  Israel,  Isa.  xxix.  10  ;  a  sjiirit  of  deep 
sleep,  when  the  Jaw  which  contained  the  great  tilings  of 
God,  and  their  salvation,  was  to  them  as  a  sealed  hook, 
they  read  it  not,  their  eyes  were  closed,  their  spiritual 
senses  were  bound  up.  Many  a  christian  who  hath 
been  raised  from  a  death  in  sin,  has  been  seized  with 
this  criminal  slumber,  and  has  had  the  image  of  death 
come  again  upon  him.  He  has  grown  too  careless  and 
unconcerned  about  his  most  important  and  eternal  af- 
fairs ;  and  in  this  temper  he  hardly  knows  what  his 
state  is  toward  God,  nor  keeps  up  a  lively  sense  or  no- 
tice of  divine  and  eternal  things  upon  his  spirit. 

Watchfulness  in  opposition  to  this  sleep,  implies  a 
holy  solicitude  and  diligence,  to  know  our  own  spiritual 
state  ;  a  consciousness  of  what  we  are  ;  a  keeping  all 
the  spiritual  senses  in  proper  exercise,  and  maintaining 
a  lively  perception  of  divine  things.  It  implies  an 
cute,  painful  sense  of  indwelling  sin,  and  the  irregular 
propensities  of  the  heart,  a  delightful  relish  of  heavenly 
objects,  frequent  thoughts  of  death  and  eternity,  constant 
waiting  for  those  awful  events,  with  a  quick  apprehen- 
sion and  resentment  of  all  things,  that  help  or  hinder 
the  spiritual  life.  This  is  the  character  of  a  wakeful 
christian,  and  such  an  one  as  is  ready  to  receive  his 
returning  Lord. 

3.  There  is  a  sleep  of  security  and  foolish  jieace,  when 
a  person  is  not  apprehensive  of  imminent  danger,  and  is 
much  unguarded  against  it.  Such  was  the  sleep  of  Jo- 
nah in  the  storm,  of  Sampson  on  the  lap  of  Delilah, 
when  the  Phillistines  were  upon  him,  and  of  the  disci- 
ples when  Judas  and  the  band  of  soldiers  were  just 
ready  to  seize  their  master.  This  is  the  case  of  many 
a  slumbering  christian  ;  he  is  not  upon  his  guard  against 
his  inward  lusts  and  passions,  nor  against  those  outward 
temptations  and  perils  to  which  he  is  continually  ex- 
posed, while  he  dwells  in  flesh  and  blood. 


DYING  IN  PEAOE.  103 

Watchfulness  in  this  respect  is,  when  a  christian  hath 
his  eyes  open,  and  turns  them  round  on  every  side  to 
foresee  approaching  evil,  and  prevent  it ;  when  he  is 
prepared  for  every  assault  of  every  adversary,  whether 
sin  or  the  world,  whether  death  or  the  devil ;  he  hath 
liis  spiritual  armour  girt  upon  him,  and  is  ready  for  the 
combat.  He  is  every  hour  guarded  against  the  powers 
of  the  flesh,  and  watching  against  its  allurements  and 
attractions,  lest  he  be  defiled  thereby,  and  unfit  to  meet 
his  returning  Lord.  He  is  daily  loosening  his  heart 
from  all  sensual  attachments,  and  weaning  himself  from 
the  world  and  creatures,  because  he  knows  he  must 
quickly  take  his  long  fjirewell,  and  part  with  them  all, 
at  the  call  and  appointment  of  his  great  Master.  He  is 
like  a  ceutinel  upon  his  watch  tower,  ever  awake,  be- 
cause dangers  stand  thick  around  him. 

4,  There  is  a  sleep  of  sloth  and  inactivity ;  Prov.  xix. 
15.  Slothfalness  cast  into  a  deep  sleep.  A  little  more 
sleep,  a  little  more  slumber,  saith  the  lazy  christian,  who 
turns  upon  his  bed,  as  the  door  upon  its  hinges,VLnd  makes 
no  progress  or  advance  in  his  way  to  heaven.  We  are 
sleepy  christians  when  we  do  little  for  God,  or  our  own 
souls,  in  comparison  of  the  vast  work,  and  important 
varieties  of  duty  that  lie  upon  us.  When  our  zeal  is 
cold,  and  our  eiforts  of  service  slight  and  feeble  ;  when 
the  light  of  grace  shines  so  dim,  and  the  spark  of  holi- 
ness is  so  covered  with  ashes,  that  it  is  hard  to  say 
whether  it  burn  or  no.  As  in  natural  things,  so  in 
spiritual.  It  is  a  difficult  matter  sometimes  to  distin- 
guish between  a  dead  man,  and  a  lethargic  sleeper. 

Watchfulness  in  opposition  to  this  slumber,  is  a  lively 
and  vigorous  exercise  of  every  grace,  and  a  diligent  at- 
tendance on  every  duty,  both  toward  God  and  man  ;  a 
constant  converse  with  heaven  by  daily  devotion  ;  an 
active  zeal  for  God  in  the  world  ;  a  steady  faith  in  the 
promises  ;  a  joyful  hope  of  heavenly  blessedness  ;  a 


104  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

longing  expectation  of  the  returning  Saviour,  which 
makes  the  soul  stretch  out  the  wings  of  desire  and  joy, 
as  though  it  were  going  forth  to  meet  him.  This  is  the 
meaningof  the  apostle  Peter's  expression  ;  2  Pet.  iii.  12; 
Looking  for,  and  hastening  to  the  coming  of  the  darj  of 
God. 

Put  all  these  things  together  now,  and  they  make  up 
the  character  of  a  watchful  christian.  He  is  awake 
from  the  sleep  of  death,  and  made  spiritually  alive  ;  he 
hath  the  work  of  vital  religion  begun  in  liis  heart. 

He  is  awake  from  the  sleep  of  thoughtlessness  and 
indolence  ;  he  is  solicitous  to  know  his  own  state,  and 
hath  good  hope  through  grace  ;  he  lives  in  the  view  of 
heavenly  things,  and  keeps  his  eye  open  to  future  and 
eternal  glories. 

He  is  awake  from  the  sleep  of  security,  he  is  upon  his 
guard  against  every  danger,  and  ready  to  receive  every 
alarm. 

He  is  awake  from  the  sleep  of  slothfulness,  and  is 
active  in  the  pursuit  of  the  glory  of  his  God,  and  his  own 
eternal  interest,  and  still  jiressing  toward  the  mark  to 
obtain  the  prize.  This  is  the  soul  that  is  ready  to  meet 
a  returning  saviour,  and  to  receive  liis   Lord  when  he 

I  comes,  either  at   the  hour  of  death,  or  to  the  general 

I  judgment. 

I  Thirdly,  Let  me  propose  some  special  considerations 

whicli  discover  the  blessedness  of  the  icatchful  christian 
at  the  hour  of  death. 

1.  Consid.  That  moment   dispossesses  us   of  every 

I  enjoyment  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  divides  us  from  the 

'  commerce  of  this  visible  world  ;  but  the  wakeful  chris- 

tian is  happy,  for  he  is  ready  to  be  thus  divided  and  dis- 

I  possessed.     Death  breaks  the  band  at  once  between  us, 

I  and  all  the  sensible  things  round  about  us,  by  dissolving 

the  frame  of  this  body,  which  had  united  us  to  them  ; 
and  the  watchful  saint  is  content  to  have  that  bond  bro- 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  10 j 

keii,  these  unions  dissolved.  His  heart  and  soul  are  not 
torn  away  from  the  dear  delights  of  this  mortal  state 
with  that  pain,  anguish  and  horror,  that  attends  the  sin- 
ner when  death  summons  him  oiF  the  stage,  and  divides 
him  from  his  fleshly  idols.  The  christian  hath  been 
untying  his  heart  by  degrees  from  the  dearest  de- 
lights of  sense,  and  disengaging  it  from  all  that  is  not 
immortal ;  with  holy  pleasure  he  can  bid  farewell  to 
sun,  moon  and  stars,  and  to  all  things  which  their  light 
can  shew  him,  for  lie  is  going  to  a  world  where  the  Sun 
of  righteousness  ever  shines  in  unclouded  glory,  and 
discovers  such  sights,  as  are  infinitely  superior  to  all 
that  the  eyes  of  flesh  can  behold  ;  he  can  part  with 
friends  and  kindred  with  a  composed  spirit,  for  he  is 
going  to  meet  better  friends  and  diviner  kindred,  as  we 
shall  shew  immediately.  He  can  leave  his  dying  flesh 
behind  liim,  and  commit  it  to  the  dust,  in  joyful  hope  of 
the  great  rising  day ;  and  lie  hath  a  better  mansion  at 
present  provided  for  him  on  high,  in  his  Father's  house, 
while  he  lives  far  separate  from  all  earthly  dwellings. 
2  Cor.  V.  1  ;  "  We  know  that  if  this  earthly  house  of 
our  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God, 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

2,  Consid.  The  moment  of  death  finishes  our  state  of 
trial,  and  fixes  us  unchangeably  in  the  state  of  sin  or  holi- 
ness, in  which  we  are  tlien  found.  And  blessed  is  the 
icatchfid  christian,  for  he  is  prepared  to  have  his  trial 
thus  ended,  and  his  state  thusjixed  and  made  unchangea- 
ble. As  the  tree  falls,  so  it  lies  ;  Eccles.  xi.  10  ;  tvhether 
to  the  north,  or  the  south.  As  the  soul  parts  from  the 
body,  so  it  remains,  whether  fitted  for  heaven  or  hell. 
It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  tlie  last  importance,  to  be  pre- 
pared and  ready  for  such  an  eternal  sentence,  and  un- 
changeable determination.  Were  any  of  us  to  be 
sui-prized  some  moment  this  day,  and  forced  to  continue 
all  our  lives  in  that  very  posture  of  body,  in  which  we 
14  ' 


106  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

are  then  founds  should  we  not  be  awake,  and  keep  our- 
selves in  the  most  natural  and  easy  gestures  all  that  day, 
lest  we  he  seized  at  once,  and  fixed  in  some  distorted, 
painfulj  and  uneasy  situation,  all  our  months  and  years 
to  come  ?  Or  if  we  were  to  be  bound  down  to  one  sin- 
gle thought  or  passion,  all  the  remnant  of  our  life,  in 
which  we  were  found  in  any  uncertain  minute  in  this 
hour,  should  we  not  watch  with  utmost  care,  and  guard 
against  every  unpleasing  thought,  and  every  fretful  and 
vexing  passion,  lest  it  should  be  fixed  upon  us  till  we  die  ? 

Now  this  is  the  case  at  death :  the  Almighty  voice  of 
God  then  pronounces,  he  that  is  unclean  and  unholy 
must  for  ever  be  unholy  and  unclean^  but  he  that  is 
righteous  let  him  be  righteous  stilly  and  he  that  is  holy 
shall  be  for  ever  holy ;  Rev.  xxii.  11.  I  will  not  pre- 
cisely determine  that  this  is  the  sense  of  that  text ;  yet 
since  the  apostle  speaks  there  concerning  the  coming  of 
Christ,  it  may  be  very  applicable  to  the  present  case. 
Now  how  dreadful  soever  this  thought  is  to  a  guilty,  sin- 
ful creature,  it  is  no  terror  to  a  wakeful  christian.  He  is 
ready  to  have  these  words  pronounced  from  heaven,  for 
they  will  establish  him  in  eternal  holiness  and  eternal 
peace.  He  hath  endeavoured  to  secure  to  himself  an 
interest  in  the  love  of  God,  through  the  faith  and  love  of 
Jesus  the  blessed  Mediator,  and  at  death  he  is  fixed  for 
ever  in  their  love.  He  hath  loved  God  in  time,  and  in 
this  visible  world,  and  there  is  nothing  in  all  the  unseen 
worlds,  nothing  through  all  the  ages  of  eternity,  sball 
ever  separate  him  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 
The  moment  of  death  liath  fixed  him  for  ever  a  holy  and 
beloved  soul,  beyond  the  power  of  creatures  to  change 
liis  temper,  or  his  state.  This  is  the  blessedness  of  tlie 
watchful  christian. 

3.  Consid.  Death  sets  us  in  a  more  immediate  and 
sensible  manner  in  the  presence  of  God,  a  glorious  and 
holy  God,  God  the  Judge  of  all :  and  blessed  is  the 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  107 

watchful  christian^  for  he  is  willing  to  stand  before  this 
God,  to  he  brought  into  his  'presence.  This  is  what  he 
hath  longed  and  prayed  for,  to  he  for  ever  with  God. 
It  is  the  blessedness  that  he  hath  sought  with  incessant 
labors  and  tears,  with  holy  diligence,  and  daily  devotidn^ 
and  blessed  is  the  pure  in  heart,  who  hath  watched 
against  the  pollutions  of  the  world, /or  he  shall  see  God, 
Matt.  V.  8. 

It  is  certain,  that  when  the  soul  departs  from  the  body, 
it  returns  to  God  who  gave  it,  Eccles.  xii.  7-  And  pro- 
bably to  God  as  a  Judge  too.  Heb.  ix.  27-  *3fter  death 
judgment.  There  is  some  sort  of  determination  of  the 
state  of  each  single  person  at  death,  before  the  great  and 
general  judgment-day,  because  that  day  is  appointed 
rather  for  the  public  vindication  of  the  equity  of  God  in 
his  distribution  of  rewards  and  punishments,  and  is  par- 
ticularly put  into  the  hands  of  our  Lord  Jesus.  Now, 
since  the  separate  soul  returns  to  God  who  gave  it,  it  is 
of  vast  importance  that  we  be  then  prepared  to  come 
before  him.  • 

Some  of  us  here  would  be  mightily  afraid  of  appearing 
before  a  prince,  or  a  great  and  honorable  person  in  an 
undress  ;  but  for  our  souls  in  a  naked  state,  or  in  a  gar- 
ment of  sinful  pollution,  to  be  surprized  by  the  great  and 
holy  God,  to  be  set  on  a  sudden  in  his  presence,  what 
terror  is  contained  in  this  thought !  Now  the  watchful 
christian  hath  this  blessedness,  that  he  is  washed  from 
his  defilements  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  '^  he  is  clothed 
with  the  robe  of  righteousness,  and  the  garments  of  sal- 
vation;" Isa.  Ixi.  10.  He  is  prepared  to  appear  before 
a  God  of  infinite  holiness  without  terror,  for  he  is  made 
like  him,  he  bears  his  image,  he  appears  as  one  of  his 
children,  and  he  is  not  afraid  to  see  his  Father. 

However  some  commentators  may  confine  and  impov- 
erish the  sense  of  David  in  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
Psalm,  yet  I  am  persuaded  the  spirit  of  God  in  him  de- 


108  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

signed  to  express  liis  faitli  and  joy,  either  at  the  hour  of 
death,  or  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  "  I  shall 
behold  thy  face  in  righteousness,  I  shall  be  satisfied 
when  I  awake  with  thy  likeness."  When  the  Psalmist 
had  described  what  were  the  satisfactions  of  the  men  of 
this  world  in  death,  ver.  14,  viz.  that  they  had  filled 
their  houses  with  children,  and  and  leave  their  substance 
or  riches  to  them,  lie  then  declares  what  was  his  support 
and  hope  in  his  dying  lioui* ;  Jlsfor  me,  saith  he,  I  have 
other  views  ;  I  am  not  afraid,  O  my  God,  to  appear  be- 
fore thee  in  the  other  world,  for  I  shall  see  thy  face,  not 
as  a  criminal,  but  as  a  person  approved  and  accepted, 
and  righteous  in  thy  sight ;  I  shall  awake  from  this  world 
of  dreams  and  shadows,  into  thy  complete  image  and 
perfect  holiness  ,  or  I  shall  awake  from  the  dust  of 
death,  and  shall  be  fully  satisfied  ;  and  rejoice  to  find 
myself  made  so  like  my  God,  and  to  dwell  for  ever  in 
his  presence. 

4.  Consid.  It  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  lets  the 
soul  out  of  the  body,  for  he  "^  hath  the  keys  of  death,  and 
of  the  unseen  world,  and  blessed  is  the  watchful  chris- 
tian, who  waits  for  the  coming  of  his  Lord,  for  he  can 
meet  him  gladly,  w  hen  fulfilling  this  part  of  liis  glorious 
office."  He  shall  be  introduced  by  him  into  the  presence 
of  God  his  Father,  and  shall  receive  most  condescending 
instances  of  mercy  from  Christ  himself.  See  the  text, 
Luke  xii.  36,  37.  ''  Be  ye  yourselves  like  men  that 
wait  for  the  Lord,  that  when  he  cometh  and  knocketh, 
ye  may  open  to  him  immediately.  Blessed  are  those 
servants,  whom  the  Lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find 
watching  :  Verily  I  say  to  you,  he  shall  gird  himself, 
and  make  them  sit  down  to  meat,  and  come  forth  and 
serve  them."  He  shall  condescend,  as  it  were,  even  be- 
low the  office  of  a  steward,  he  shall  bring  out  the  heav- 
enly provisions  of  his  Father's  house,  and  make  them 
sit  down  in  liis  kingdom,  and  give  them  divine  refresh- 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  109 

ments  after  their  labors  ;  he  shall  feed  them  as  a  shep- 
herd, shall  lead  them  to  living  fountains  of  waters,  and 
afford  them  his  presence  for  ever. 

The  watchful  christian  is  blessed  indeed,  when  he 
shall  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  be  at  once  present  with 
the  Lord,  2  Cor.  v.  8.  The  Lord  Jesus  whom  he  hath 
seen  by  faith  in  his  gospel,  whose  voice  he  hath  lieard 
in  his  word,  and  obeyed  it ;  Jesus,  whom  he  hath  touch- 
ed and  tasted  in  the  appointed  emblems  of  his  supper  on 
earth,  in  whom  he  hath  believed  through  the  word  of 
grace,  and  whom  he  hath  loved  before  he  saw  him,  shall 
now  receive  him  into  his  presence,  and  the  disciple  shall 
rejoice  for  ever  to  meet  his  Lord,  with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory. 

5.  Consid.  At  the  hour  of  death  we  are  sent  at  once 
into  an  invisible  world ;  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  the 
midst  of  holy  or  of  unclean  spirits  ;  borne  away  at  once 
into  an  unknown  region,  and  into  tlie  midst  of  unknown 
inhabitants,  the  nations  of  the  saved,  or  the  crowds  of 
damned  souls ;  and  blessed  is  the  watchful  christian,  for 
he  is  ready  to  enter  into  the  unseen  regions  .-he  knows 
he  shall  not  be  placed  among  those  whose  company  and 
whose  character  he  never  loved  here  on  earth  :  his  soul 
shall  not  be  gathered  with  sinners,  nor  his  dwelling  be 
tcith  the  workers  of  iniquity,  but  witli  the  saints,  the  ex- 
cellent in  the  earth,  in  whom  was  all  his  delight.  Every 
one  when  dismissed  from  the  prison  of  this  body,  must 
go  as  the  apostles  did,  when  released  from  the  prison  at 
Jeinisalem,  must  go  to  their  own  company,  Acts  iv.  S3. 
Judas  the  traitor  went  to  his  own  place.  Acts  i.  %5.  And 
the  watchful  christian  will  be  disposed  among  spirits  of 
the  just  made  perfect,  he  will  find  himself  in  that  blessed 
society,  at  his  dismission  from  flesh  and  blood.  Bead 
and  see  what  a  glorious  society  it  is,  Heb.  xii.  S3,  S3 ; 
To  the  innumerable  company  of  angels,  the  general  as- 
sembly and  church  of  the  first-born^  ivho  are  written  in 


110  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

heaven^  to  God  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  sjririts  of  just 
men  made  perfect,  and  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the  new 
covenant.  The  apostle  says,  we  are  come  to  them, 
already,  that  is,  by  the  covenant  of  grace,  as  administered 
under  the  gospel ;  we  are  bronght  into  a  blessed  union 
with  them,  in  spirit  and  in  temper,  even  in  this  life  ;  we 
are  members  of  the  same  body ;  we  are  united  to  the 
same  head,  and  made  parts  of  the  same  household, 
though  we  are  not  yet  brought  home.  But  at  death  we 
are  actually  present  with  them,  and  dwell  and  converse 
among  them  with  holy  familiarity,  as  citizens  of  the  same 
heavenly  Jerusalem,  as  parts  of  the  same  sacred  family, 
and  at  home,  as  children  of  the  same  God,  and  in  their 
Father's  house.  The  watchful  christian  is  at  once  car- 
ried into  the  midst  of  the  blessed  world  by  ministering 
angels,  the  world  where  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
dwell,  and  made  a  speedy  partaker  of  their  blessedness ; 
Luke  xvi.  2S. 

6.  Consid.  Death  brings  with  it  a  most  amazing  and 
inconceivable  change  of  all  our  present  circumstances 
and  thoughts,  our  actions  and  pursuits,  our  sensations  and 
enjoyments.  I  mean  all  those  that  relate  to  this  life 
only  ;  such  as  eating,  drinking,  buying,  selling,  &c.  It 
dislodges  us  from  these  bodies,  and  thereby  finishes  all 
those  affections,  concerns  and  troubles,  which  belong  to 
the  body,  and  sends  us  into  another  sort  of  world,  whose 
affairs  and  concerns  are  such  only  as  belong  to  spirits, 
whether  sinful  or  holy.  A  most  delightful,  or  a  most 
dreadful  change !  A  world  of  unknown  sorrows,  or 
unknown  happiness  /  Luke  xxiii.  43  ;  '^  This  day  slialt 
thou  be  with  me  in  paradise."  liuke  xvi.  22 ;  "  The 
rich  man  died,  and  in  hell  he  lift  up  his  eyes."  And 
indeed  the  change  is  so  vast,  that,  comparatively  s])eak- 
ing,  we  know  not  what  sorrow,  or  happiness  is,  till  this 
day  comes.  Now  it  is  a  very  foolisli  and  dangerous 
thing  at  best,  to  pass  into  such  an  extreme  clian^^^e  of 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  Ill 

states,  infinitely  worse,  or  infinitely  better,  while  we  are 
asleep,  and  at  all  uncertainties.  What  if  it  should  be 
the  miserable  state,  and  we  should  awake  in  hell  ?  But 
the  watchful  christian  is  blessed^for  he  is  ready  for  this 
amazing  change.  He  hath  long  lived  upon  it  by  faith 
and  hope ;  though  he  knows  not  so  well  what  the  par- 
ticular enjoyments  of  heaven  are  :  and  he  is  well  satis- 
fied that  he  is  prepared  for  that  happy  world  by  God 
himself.  2  Cor.  v.  5  ;  He  that  hath  wrought  us  for  the 
self -same  thing  is  God.  He  is  well  pleased  to  have  his 
faith  changed  into  sight,  and  his  hope  into  fruition.  He 
hath  been  long  pained  and  burdened  in  this  sinful  world, 
with  the  vain  trifies,  the  poor,  low  cares  and  amusements 
of  it.  The  sins,  sorrows  and  temptations  that  surround 
him  in  it,  give  him  continual  disquietudes  ;  and  he  hath 
been  training  up  in  the  school  of  Cln-ist,  by  devotion  and 
good  works,  for  those  higher  services  of  heaven.  Since 
he  can  trust  the  promises  of  the  gospel,  and  has  had 
some  small  foretaste  of  these  pleasures  ;  he  knows  that 
the  actions  and  employments,  the  business  and  joys  of 
the  upper  world,  are  incomparably  superior  to  any  thing 
here  on  earth,  and  free  from  all  the  uneasy  and  defiling 
circumstances  of  this  life.  He  is  awake  to  receive  this 
change ;  he  rejoices  in  his  removal  from  world  to  world. 
His  vital  and  active  powers  are  ready  for  the  business  of 
paradise,  and  he  opens  his  heart  to  take  in  the  joy. 

7.  Consid.  Death  makes  its  approaches  often  times, 
and  seizes  us  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  give  no  room  for 
prayers  or  repentance  ;  then  the  blessedness  of  the  ivatch- 
ful  soul  appears f  that  if  he  is  carried  out  of  the  world 
and  time,  in  such  a  surprising  ivay,  he  is  safe  for 
eternity. 

Sometimes  the  messenger  of  death  stops  all  our 
thouglits  aud  actions  at  once,  by  a  lethargic  stroke,  or 
confounds  them  all,  by  ihe  delirious  rovings  of  a  fever. 
The  light  of  reason  is  eclipsed  and  darkened,  the  powers 


US  THE  WA'ICHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

of  the  mind  are  all  obstructed,  or  the  laiiguishings  of  na- 
ture have  so  enfeebled  tliem,  that  either  we  cannot  exer- 
cise tiiem  to  any  spiritual  purposes ;  or  we  are  forbid  to 
do  it,  for  fear  of  counterworking  the  physician,  increasing 
the  malady,  and  hastening  our  death.  Thus  we  are  not 
capable  of  making  any  new  preparation  for  the  important 
work  of  dying  :  we  can  make  use  of  none  of  the  means 
of  grace,  nor  do  any  thing  more  to  secure  an  interest  in 
the  love  of  God,  the  salvation  of  Christ,  and  the  blessings 
of  heaven. 

This  is  a  very  dismal  thought  indeed.  But  the 
watchful  christian  hath  this  blessedness,  that  he  is  fit  to 
receive  the  sentence  of  death  in  any  form.  Nor  lethar- 
gies, nor  deliriums,  nor  languors  of  nature,  can  destroy 
the  seed  of  grace  and  religion  in  the  heart,  wliich  were 
sown  there  in  the  days  of  health.  Nor  can  any  of  the 
formidable  attendants  of  death,  cancel  his  former  trans- 
actions with  God  and  Christ,  about  his  immortal  con- 
cerns. That  great  and  momentous  work  was  done  before 
death  appeared,  or  any  of  its  attendants.  He  was  not 
so  unwise,  as  to  leave  matters  of  infinite  importance  at 
that  dreadful  hazard.  He  is  not  now  to  begin  to  seek 
after  a  lost  God,  nor  to  begin  his  repentance  for  past  sins. 
He  is  not  now  a  stranger  at  the  throne  of  grace,  nor  be- 
ginning to  learn  to  pray.  He  is  not  now  commencing 
liis  acquaintance  with  Jesus  Christ  his  Saviour,  in  the 
midst  of  a  tumult  and  hurry  of  thoughts  and  fears ;  nor 
are  the  works  of  faith,  and  love,  and  holiness,  to  be  noAv 
begun.  Dreadful  work  indeed,' and  infinitely  hazardous  ! 
to  begin  to  ])e  convinced  of  sin  on  the  borders  of  death, 
and  to  make  our  first  enquiries  after  God  and  hea,ven, 
jipon  the  very  brink  of  hell  !  to  begin  to  ask  for  pardon, 
when  we  can  live  in  sin  no  longer  !  to  cry  out,  Jesus, 
save  me,  when  tiie  waves  of  the  wrath  of  God  are  break- 
ing in  upon  the  drowning  soul !  Hopeless  condition  and 
extreme  wretchedness  !  to  have  all  the  hard  work  of 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  113 

conversion  to  go  through,  under  the  sinkings  of  feeble 
nature,  and  to  begin  the  exercises  of  virtue  and  godli- 
ness, under  the  wild  disorders  of  reason !  What  a 
madness  is  it,  to  leave  our  infinite  concerns  at  such  a 
horrible  uncertainty  ! 

But  these  are  not  thy  circumstances,  O  wakeful 
christian  :  nor  was  this  the  case  of  our  young  departed 
friend ;  though  her  distemper  soon  discomposed  her 
reasoning  powers,  and  gave  her  very  little  opportunity 
to  make  a  present  preparation  for  dying.  But  she  had 
heard  the  voice  of  Christ  in  his  gospel  betimes,  and 
awoke  to  righteousness  at  his  call,  that  she  might  be 
always  ready  for  his  summons  in  death.  Religion  was 
her  early  care.  A  fear  to  offend  God,  possessed  and 
governed  her  thoughts  and  actions  from  her  childhood ; 
and  heavenly  things  were  her  youthful  choice.  She 
had  appeared  for  some  years,  in  the  public  profession 
of  Christianity,  and  maintained  the  practice  of  godliness 
in  the  church,  and  the  world  ;  but  it  began  much  more 
early  in  secret.  Her  beloved  closet,  and  her  retiring 
hours,  were  silent  witnesses  of  her  daily  converse  with 
God  and  her  Saviour.  There  she  devoted  her  soul  to 
her  Creator  betimes,  according  to  the  encouragements 
and  rules  of  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  and  there  she  found 
peace  and  salvation.  It  was  there  she  made  a  consci- 
entious recollection  of  the  sermons  she  heard  in  public, 
from  her  tender  years,  and  left  behind  her  these  fruits 
of  her  memory,  and  her  pen  to  attest  what  improvements 
she  gained  in  knowledge,  by  the  ministrations  of  the 
word  :  and  her  cabinet  has  now  discovered  to  us,  another 
set  of  memoirs,  wherein  she  continually  observed  what 
advances  she  might  make  in  real  piety,  by  those  weekly 
seasons  of  grace. 

It  was  under  these  influences  she  maintained  a  most 
dutiful  and  affectionate  behavior  to   her  honored  par- 
ents, and  with  filial  fondness  mingled  with  esteem,  sub- 
15 


114  THE  WATCpPtTL  CHRISTIAN 

mission  and  reverence  paid  her  constant  regards  to  the 
lady  her  mother,  in  her  widowed  estate.  It  was  by  the 
united  principles  of  grace  and  nature,  she  lived  with  her 
younger  sisters  in  uncommon  harmony  and  friendship, 
as  though  one  heart  and  soul  animated  them  all.  It 
was  under  these  influences,  she  ever  stood  upon  her 
guard,  amongst  all  the  innocent  freedoms  of  life,  and 
though  she  did  not  immure  herself,  in  the  walls  of  a 
mothers  house,  but  indulged  a  just  curiosity  to  learn 
some  of  the  forms  of  the  world,  the  magnificence  of 
courts,  and  the  grandeurs  of  life,  yet  she  knew  how  far 
to  appear  among  them,  and  when  to  retire.  Nor  did 
she  forbid  herself  all  the  polite  diversions  of  youth, 
agreeable  to  her  rank  ;  nor  did  reason  or  religion,  or 
her  superior  relatives  forbid  her ;  yet  she  was  still 
awake  to  secure  all  that  belongs  to  honor  and  virtue, 
nor  did  she  use  to  venture  to  the  utmost  bounds,  of 
what  sobriety  and  religion  might  allow.  Danger  of 
guilt  stands  near  the  extreme  limits  of  innocence. 

Shall  I  let  this  paper  inform  the  world,  with  what 
friendly  decency,  she  treated  her  young  companions  and 
acquaintance,  how  far  from  indulging  the  modish  liber- 
ties  of  scandal  on  the  absent,  how  mucli  she  hated  those 
scornful  and  derisive  airs,  which  persons  on  higher 
ground,  too  often  assume  toward  those  who  are  seated 
in  the  inferior  ranks  of  life  ?  Is  it  proper  I  should  say, 
how  much  her  behavior  won  upon  the  esteem  of  all 
tliat  knew  her,  though  I  could  appeal  to  the  general  sor- 
row at  her  deatli,  to  confirm  the  truth  of  it  ?  But  who 
can  forbear  on  this  occasion,  to  take  notice,  how  far  she 
acquired  that  lovely  character  in  her  narrow  and  pri- 
vate spliere,  which  seems  almost  to  have  been  derived  to 
lier  by  inlieritance,  from  her  honored  father,  deceased, 
who  had  the  tears  of  his  country  long  dropping  upon 
his  tomb,  and  whose  memory  yet  lives  in  a  thousand 
hearts  ? 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  ^15- 

8iich  a  conversation  and  such  a  cliaracter,  made  up 
of  piety  and  virtue,  were  prepared  for  the  attacks  of  a 
fever,  with  malignant  and  mortal  symptoms.  Slow  and 
unsuspected  were  the  advances  of  the  disease,  till  the 
powers  of  reason  began  to  faulter  and  retire,  till  the 
heralds  of  death  had  made  their  appearance,  and  spread 
on  her  bosom,  their  purple  ensigns.  When  these  dis- 
orders began,  her  lucid  intervals  were  longer,  and  while 
she  thought  no  person  was  near,  she  could  address  her- 
self to  God,  and  say,  how  often  she  had  given  herself 
to  him  ;  she  hoped  she  had  done  it  sincerely,  and  found 
acceptance  with  him,  and  trusted  that  she  was  not  de- 
ceived. The  gleams  of  reason  that  broke  in  between 
the  clouds,  gave  her  light  enough  to  discern  her  own 
evidencs  of  piety,  and  refresh  her  liope.  Then  she  re- 
peated some  of  the  last  verses  of  the  i39th  Psalm  in 
metre,  viz. 

Lord,  search  my  sOul,  tsy  every  thought : 
Tho'  my  own  heart  accuse  me  not, 
Of  walking  in  a  false  disguise, 
1  beg  the  trial  of  thine  eyes. 

Doth  secret  mischief  lurk  within  ? 
Do  I  indulge  some  unknown  sin  ! 
O  turn  my  feet  whene'er  I  stray. 
And  lead  rae  in  thy  perfect  way. 

She  was  frequent  and  importunate  in  her  requests  for 
the  Psalm-book,  that  she  might  read  that  Psalm,  or  at 
least  have  it  read  to  her  throughout;  and  it  was  with  some 
difficulty,  we  persuaded  her  to  be  composed  in  silence  ; 
thus  sincerely  willing  was  slie,  that  God  might  search 
and  try  her  heart,  still  hoping  well  concerning  her  spirit- 
ual state,  yet  still  solicitous  about  the  assurance  of  her 
own  sincerity,  in  her  former  transactions  with  heaven. 

The  next  day  among  the  roving  of  her  thoughts,  she 
rehearsed  all  those  verses  of  the  17th  Psalm,  which  are 


116  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

paraphased  in  the  same  book,  with  Tery  little  faltering 
in  a  line  or  two  : 

Lord  I  am  thine  ;  but  thou  wilt  prove 
My  faith,  my  patience,  and  my  love,  &c' 

The  traces  of  her  thoughts  under  this  confusion  of  ani- 
mal nature,  retained  something  in  them  divine  and  heav- 
enly. 

O  blessed  situation  of  soul,  when  we  stand  prepared 
for  death,  though  it  come  with  the  formidable  retinue  of 
a  disordered  brain,  and  clouded  reason !  It  would  be 
too  long  at  present  to  represent  to  you  the  sad  conse- 
quences of  being  found  asleep  when  Christ  comes  to  call 
us  away  from  this  world  ,*  I  shall  therefore  only  make 
these  three  reflections. 

Reflection  1.  JVone  can  oegin  too  early  to  awalce  to 
righteousness,  and  iirejmre  for  the  call  of  Christ,  since 
no  one  is  too  young  to  be  sent  for  by  his  messenger  of 
death.  I  do  not  here  speak  of  the  state  of  infancy,  when 
persons  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  in  u  personal  state  of 
trial.  But  when  I  say,  7ione  can  awake  too  early  to 
mind  the  things  of  religion,  I  mean,  after  reason  begins 
its  proper  exercise,  and  this  appears  sometimes  in  early 
childhood.  All  our  life  in  tliis  world,  compared  with 
heaven,  is  a  sort  of  night  and  season  of  darkness  ;  and  if 
our  Lord  summon  us  away  in  the  first  watch  of  the  nighty 
in  the  midst  of  youth  and  vigor,  and  the  pleasing  al- 
lurements of  flesh  and  sense,  we  are  in  a  deplorable  state 
if  we  are  found  sleeping,  and  hurried  away  from  earth, 
into  the  invisible  world,  in  the  midst  of  our  foolish 
dreams  of  golden  vanity.  Dreadful  indeed,  to  have  a 
young  tlioughtless  creature  carried  off  the  stage,  sleep- 
ing and  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  !  Let  those  that  are 
drunk  w  ith  wine  fall  asleep  upon  the  top  of  a  mast  in 
the  middle  of  the  sea,  where  the  winds  and  the  waves 
are  tossing  and  roaring  all  around  them  j  let  a  mad- 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  117 

man  who  has  lost  his  reason,  lie  down  to  sleep  upon  the 
edge  of  a  precipice,  where  a  pit  of  fire  and  brimstone  is 
burning  beneath  him,  and  ready  to  receive  his  fall ;  but 
let  not  young  sinners,  whose  rational  powers  are  in  ex- 
ercise, and  whose  life  is  every  moment  a  mere  uncer- 
tainty, venture  to  go  on  in  their  dangerous  slumbers, 
while  the  wrath  of  a  God  and  eternal  misery  attend 
them,  if  they  die  before  they  are  awake. 

It  is  granted  that  no  power  beneath  that  which  is  di- 
vine, can  effectually  quicken  a  dead  soul,  and  awaken 
it  into  a  divine  life.  It  is  the  work  of  God  to  quicken  the 
dead,  Rom.  iv.  17;  Eph.  ii.  5.  It  is  the  Son  of  God  who 
is  the  light  and  life  of  the  word,  John  i.  4.  To  whom  the 
Father  hath  given  this  quickening  power,  John  vi.  2Q. 
He  calls  sinners  to  awaken  them  from  tlieir  deadly  sleep, 
Eph.  V.  14.  And  they  live  by  him,  as  he  lives  by  the 
Father,  John  vi.  57-  He  awakens  dead  souls  to  life, 
by  the  same  living  spirit,  which  shall  quicken  their  mor- 
tal bodies,  and  raise  them  from  the  grave  ;  Rom.  viii.  9, 
11, 13  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  3  ;  which  spirit  he  hafli  received  from. 
the  Father,  John  iii.  34.  And  on  this  account  we  are 
to  seek  the  vital  influences  of  this  grace  from  heaven, 
by  constant  and  importunate  prayer.  Yet  in  my  text, 
as  well  as  in  other  scriptures,  awaking  out  of  sleep,  and 
watching  unto  righteousness,  is  represented  as  our  duty, 
and  we  are  to  exert  all  our  uatural  powers  with  holy 
fervency,  for  this  end,  while  our  daily  petitions  draw 
down  from  heaven  the  promised  aid  of  grace.  Our  dili- 
gence in  duty,  and  our  dependance  on  the  divine  power 
and  mercy,  are  happily  and  effectually  joined  in  the 
command  of  our  Saviour,  on  this  very  occasion,  in  one 
of  his  parables,  Mark  xiii.  33.  "  Watch  and  pray,  for 
ye  know  not  when  the  time  is  that  the  Lord  will  come." 
And  again.  Chap.  xiv.  38.  "  Watch  and  pray  that  ye 
enter  not  into  temptation."  Trust  not  in  your  own 
strength  and  sufficiency  for  the  glorious  change  to  be 


118  THE  WATCHFUL  CHIftSTlAN 

wrought  ill  your  sinful  hearts,  and  yet  neglect  not  your 
own  labors  and  restless  endeavors  under  a  pretence, 
tbat  it  is  God's  work,  and  not  yours.  Awake  tliou  that 
steepest^  and  arise  from  the  deadj  and  Christ  shall  give 
thee  light. 

Nor  should  frail  dying  creatures  in  their  youngest 
years,  delay  this  work,  one  day,  nor  one  hour,  since  the 
consequences  of  being  found  asleep  when  Christ  calls, 
are  terrible  indeed.  We  are  beset  with  mortality  all 
around  us ;  the  seeds  of  disease  and  dissolution  are 
working  within  us  from  our  very  birth  and  cradle,  ever 
since  sin  entered  into  our  natures  ;  and  we  should  ever 
be  in  a  readiness  to  remove  hence,  since  we  are  never 
secure  from  the  summons  of  heaven,  the  stroke  of  death, 
and  the  demands  of  the  grave. 

There  was  a  lovely  boy,  the  son  of  the  Shunamite, 
who  was  given  to  liis  mother  in  a  miraculous  way,  and 
and  when  he  was  in  the  field  among  the  reapers,  he  cried 
out,  my  head,  my  head;  he  was  carried  home  immedi- 
ately, and  in  a  few  hours  died  in  his  mother's  bosom, 
2  Kings  iv.  18.  Who  would  have  imagined  that  head- 
ache should  have  been  death,  and  that  in  so  short  a  time 
too  ?  This  is  almost  the  case  which  we  lament  at  pre- 
sent ;  the  head -ache  was  sent  but  a  few  days  before,  nor 
was  the  pain  very  intense,  nor  the  appearance  danger- 
-ous,  yet  it  became  the  fatal,  though  unexpected  fore- 
runner of  death. 

This  providence  is  an  awful  warning  piece  to  all  her 
young  acquaintance,  to  be  ready  for  a  sudden  removal ; 
for  she  was  of  a  healthy  make,  and  seemed  to  stand  at 
as  great  distance  from  the  gates  of  death  as  any  of  you. 
But  the  firmest  constitution  of  human  nature  is  born  with 
death  in  it.  From  every  age,  and  every  spot  of  ground, 
and  every  moment  of  time,  there  are  short  and  sudden 
ways  of  descent  to  the  grave.  Trap  doors  (if  I  may 
use  so  low  a  metaphor)  are  always   under  us,   and   a 


DYING  IN  PEACE,  119 

thousand  unseen  avenues  to  the  regions  of  the  dead. 
A  malignant  fever  strikes  the  strongest  nature  with  a 
mortal  blast,  at  the  command  of  the  great  Author  and 
Disposer  of  life.  My  youngest  hearers  may  be  called 
away  from  the  earth,  by  the  next  pain  that  seizes  them. 
Nothing  but  religion,  early  religion,  and  sincere  godli- 
ness, can  give  you  hope  in  youthful  death,  or  leave  a 
fragrant  savor  on  your  name  or  memory  among  those 
that  survive. 

Reflection  2.  If  such  blessedness  as  I*  have  described, 
belong  to  every  watchful  christian  at  the  hour  of  death, 
then  it  may  not  be  improper  here  to  take  notice  of  some 
peculiar  advantages  which  attend  those  who  shake  off 
the  deadly  sleep  of  sin  in  their  younger  years,  and  are 
awake  early  to  God  and  religion. 

1.  They  have  much  fewer  sins  to  mourn  over  on  a 
death-bed,  and  they  prevent  much  bitter  repentance  for 
youthful  iniquities.  Holy  Job  was  a  man  of  distinguish- 
ed piety,  and  God  himself  pronounces  of  him,  that  the7^e 
was  none  like  him  in  all  the  earth.  Job  i.  28.  Bui,  it  is 
a  question  whether  his  most  early  days  were  devoted  to 
Grod,  and  whether  he  was  so  watchful  over  his  beha- 
vior, in  that  dangerous  season  of  life,  for  he  makes  a 
heavy  complaint  in  his  addresses  to  God,  Job  xiii.  26. 
^^  Thou  writest  bitter  things  against  me,  and  raakest  me 
to  possess  the  iniquities  of  my  youth."  The  sooner  we 
begin  to  be  awake  to  holiness,  the  more  of  these  follies 
and  sorrows  are  prevented.  Happy  those  who  have  the 
fewest  of  them,  to  imbitter  their  following  lives,  or  make 
a  death-bed  painful ! 

2.  Young  persons  have  fewer  attachments  to  the 
world,  and  the  persons  and  things  of  it,  which  are  round 
about  them,  and  are  more  ready  to  part  wifcli  it  when 
their  souls  are  united  to  God  by  an  early  faith  and  love.- 
They  have  not  yet  entered  into  so  numerous  engage- 
ments of  life,  nor  dwelt  long  enough  here  to  have  their 


1;20  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

liearts  grown  so  fast  on  to  creatures,  wliich  usually 
makes  the  parting  stroke  so  full  of  anguish  and  smart- 
iug  sorrow.  A  child  can  much  more  easily  ascend  to 
heaven,  and  leave  a  parent  behind,  without  that  tender 
and  painful  solicitude,  which  a  dying,  parent  has  for  the 
welfare  of  a  surviving  child.  The  surrender  of  all  mor- 
tal interests  at  the  call  of  God,  is  much  more  easy  when 
our  souls  are  not  tied  to  them  by  so  many  strings,  nor 
united  by  so  many  of  the  softer  endearments  of  nature, 
and  where  grace  has  taught  us  to  practise  an  early 
weaning  from  all  temporal  comforts,  and  a  little  loosen- 
ed our  hearts  from  them,  by  the  faith  of  things  eternal. 

3.  Those  that  have  been  awake  betimes  to  godli- 
ness, give  peculiar  honours  to  the  gospel  at  death,  and 
leave  this  testimony  to  the  divine  religion  of  Jesus,  that 
it  was  able  to  subdue  passion  and  appetite  in  that  season 
of  life,  when  they  are  usually  strongest  and  most  unruly. 
They  give  peculiar  credit  and  glory  to  the  christian  name 
and  the  gospel,  which  has  gained  them  so  many  victo- 
ries over  the  enemies  of  their  salvation,  at  that  age 
wherein  multitudes  are  the  captives  of  sin,  and  slaves  to 
folly  and  vanity. 

-t.  Those  christians  who  are  awake  to  God  in  their 
early  years,  leave  more  happy  and  powerful  examples 
of  living  and  dying,  to  their  young  companions  and  ac- 
quaintance. It  is  the  temper  of  every  age  of  life,  to  be 
more  influenced  and  affected  by  the  practice  of  persons 
of  the  same  years.  Sin  has  fewer  excuses  to  make,  in 
order  to  shield  itself  from  the  reproof  of  such  examples, 
who  have  renounced  it  betimes  ;  and  virtue  carries  with 
it  a  more  effectual  motive  to  persuade  young  sinners  to 
piety  and  goodness,  when  it  can  point  to  its  votaries  of 
the  same  age,  and  in  the  same  circumstances  of  life. 
*•  Why  may  not  this  be  practised  by  you,  as  well  as  by 
your  companions  round  about  you,  of  the  same  age  ?" 
But  I  must  hasten  the  last  reflection. 


DYING  IN  PEACE.  1^1 

Reflection  3.  When  we  mourn  the  death  of  friends 
who  were  prepared  for  an  early  summons,  let  their 
preparation  be  our  support.  Blessed  be  God^  they 
were  not  found  sleeping!  While  we  drop  our  tears 
upon  tlie  grave  of  any  young  christian  who  was  awake 
and  alive  to  God,  that  blessedness  which  Christ  him- 
self pronounces  upon  them,  is  a  sweet  cordial  to  mingle 
with  our  bitter  sorrows,  and  will  greatly  assist  to  dry  up 
the  spring  of  them.  The  idea  of  their  piety,  and  their 
approbation  in  the  sight  of  God,  is  a  balm  to  heal  the 
wound,  and  give  present  ease  to  the  heart-ache. 

We  are  ready  to  run  over  their  virtues,  and  spread 
abroad  their  amiable  qualities  in  our  thoughts,  and  then 
with  seeming  reason,  we  give  a  loose  to  the  mournful 
passion  ;  whereas  all  these,  when  set  in  a  true  liglit^ 
are  real  ingredients  towards  our  relief. 

We  lament  the  loss  of  our  departed  friend,  when  we 
review  that  capacious  and  uncommon  power  of  memory, 
which  the  God  of  nature  had  given  her,  and  which  was 
so  well  furnished  with  a  variety  of  humane  and  divine 
knowledge,  and  was  stored  with  a  rich  treasure  of  the 
word  of  God,  so  that  if  providence  had  called  her  into 
a  more  public  appearance,  she  might  have  stood  up  in  the 
world  as  a  burning  and  shining  light,  so  far  as  her  sex 
and  station  required.  This  furniture  of  the  mind  seems 
indeed  to  be  lost  in  death,  and  buried  in  the  grave ;  but 
we  give  in  too  much  to  the  judgment  of  sense  ;  did  not 
this  extensive  knowledge  lay  a  foundation  for  her  early 
piety  ?  And  did  it  not,  by  this  means,  prepare  her  for  a 
more  speedy  removal  to  a  higher  school  of  improvement^ 
and  a  world  of  sublimer  devotion  ?  And  does  she  not 
Bhine  there  among  the  better  and  brighter  company  ? 

We  mourn  again  for  our  loss  of  a  person  so  valuable, 

when  we  think  of  that  general  calmness,  and  sedateness 

of  soul,  which  she  possessed   in  a  peculiar   degree,  so 

that  she  was  not  greatly  elevated  or  depressed,  by  cora- 

10 


ISS  THE  WATCHFUL  CHRISTIAN 

mon  accidents  or  occurrences  ;  but  this  secured  her  from 
the  rise  of  unruly  passions,  those  stormy  powers  of  na- 
ture, which  sometimes  sink  us  into  guilt  and  distress, 
and  make  us  unwilling  and  afraid  of  tlie  sudden  sum- 
mons of  Christ,  lest  he  should  find  us  under  these  dis- 
orders. 

We  think  of  her  firmness  of  spirit,  and  that  steady 
resolution,  whicii,  joined  with  a  natural  reserve,  was  a 
happy  guard  against  many  of  the  forward  follies  and 
dangers  of  youth,  and  proved  a  successful  defence 
against  some  of  the  allurements  and  temptations  of  the 
gayer  years  of  life.  And  then  we  mourn  afresh,  that  a 
person  so  well  formed  for  growing  prudence  and  virtue, 
should  be  so  suddenly  snatched  away  from  amongst  us. 
But  this  steady  and  dispassionate  frame  of  soul,  well 
improved  by  religion  and  divine  grace,  became  an  eflTec- 
tual  means  to  preserve  her  youth  more  unblemished, 
and  made  her  spirit  fitter  for  the  heavenly  world,  where 
nothing  can  enter  that  is  defiled,  and  whose  delights  are 
not  tumultuous  as  ours  are  on  earth ;  but  all  is  a  calm 
and  rational  state  of  joy. 

We  lament  yet  further,  when  we  think  of  her  native 
goodness  and  unwillingness  to  displease.  But  goodness 
is  the  very  temper  of  that  region  to  which  she  is  gone  : 
and  she  is  the  fitter  companion  for  the  inhabitants  of  a 
world  of  love. 

We  lament  that  such  a  pattern  of  early  piety  should 
be  taken  from  the  earth,  when  there  are  so  few  prac- 
tisers  of  it ;  especially  among  the  youth  of  our  degen- 
erate age,  and  in  plentiful  circumstances  of  life.  But  it 
is  a  matter  of  high  tliankfulness  to  God,  who  endowed 
her  with  tliose  valuable  qualities,  and  trained  licr  up  so 
soon  for  a  world  so  much  better  than  ours  is.  Let  our 
borrow  for  the  deceased  be  changed  into  devout  praises 
to  divine  grace.  Let  us  imitate  the  holy  language  of 
St.  Paul  to  the  Thessalouians,  and  say,  ive  are  cpwforted 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  123 

eveu  at  her  grave,  in  all  our  affliction  and  distress,  hy  the 
remembrance  of  her  faith  and  piety.  What  sufficient 
thanks  can  ice  render  unto  God,  upon  her  accou7it,  for 
all  the  joy  wherewith  we  rejoice  for  lier  sake,  before  our 
God,  night  and  day,  praying  exceedingly  that  we  may 
see  her  fice  in  the  state  of  perfection.  And  may  God 
himself,  even  our  Father,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
direct  our  way  to  the  happy  world  where  she  dwells  ; 
1  Thess.  iii.  7?  &c.  The  imitation  of  what  was  excel- 
lent in  her  life,  and  watchful  readiness  to  follow  her  in 
death,  are  the  best  honors  we  can  pay  her  memory,  and 
the  wisest  improvement  of  the  present  providence.  May 
the  spirit  of  grace  teach  us  these  lessons,  and  make  us 
all  learn  them  with  power,  that  when  our  Lord  Jesus 
shall  come  to  call  us  hence  by  death,  or  shall  appear 
with  all  his  saints,  in  the  great  rising  day,  we  may  be 
found  among  his  wakeful  servants,  and  partake  of  the 
promised  blessedness !     Amen. 


DISCOURSE  III, 

SURPRISE  IN    DEATH. 

MARK  xiii.  36. 

Watch  ye  therefore,  lest  coming  suddenly,  he  Jind  you- 
sleeping. 

AMONG  the  parables  of  our  Saviour,  there  arc 
several  recorded  by  the  evangelists,  which  represent 
him  as  a  Prince,  or  Lord  and  Master  of  a  family,  de. 
parting  for  a  season  from  his  servants,  and  in  his  absence 


1S4  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

appointing  them  their  proper  work,  with  a  solemn  charge 
to  wait  for  his  return  ;  at  which  time  he  foretold  them, 
that  he  should  require  an  account  of  their  behavior  in 
his  absence ;  and  he  either  intimates  or  expresses  a 
severe  treatment  of  those  who  should  neglect  their  duty 
while  he  was  gone,  or  make  no  preparation  for  his  ap- 
pearance. He  informs  them  also,  that  he  should  come 
upon  them  on  a  sudden ;  and  for  this  reason,  charges 
them  to  be  always  awake  and  upon  their  guard,  ver.  35. 
''  Watch  ye  therefore,  for  ye  know  not  when  the  master 
of  the  house  cometh,  whether  at  even,  or  at  midnight, 
or  at  cock-crowing,  or  in  the  morning." 

Though  the  ultimate  design  of  these  parables,  and 
the  coming  of  Christ  mentioned  therein,  refer  to  the 
great  day  of  judgment,  when  he  shall  return  from 
heaven,  shall  raise  the  dead,  and  call  mankind  to  ap- 
pear  before  his  judgment  seat,  to  receive  a  recompence 
according  to  their  works  ;  yet  both  the  duties  and  the 
warnings  which  are  represented  in  these  parables,  seem 
to  be  very  accommodable  to  the  hour  of  death  ;  for  then 
our  Lord  Jesus,  who  lias  the  keys  of  death  and  the  grave, 
and  the  unseen  icorld^  comes  to  finish  our  state  of  trial, 
and  to  put  a  period  to  all  our  works  on  earth.  He 
comes  then  to  call  us  into  the  invisible  state ;  he  dis- 
poses our  bodies  to  the  dust,  and  our  souls  are  sent  into 
other  mansions,  and  taste  some  degrees  of  appointed 
happiness  or  misery,  according  to  their  behavior  here. 
The  solemn  and  awful  warning  which  my  text  gives  us 
concerning  the  return  of  Christ  to  judgment,  may  be 
therefore  pertinently  applied  to  the  season  when  he  shall 
send  his  messenger  of  death  to  fetch  us  hence.  Watch 
ye  therefore,  lest  coining  suddenly,  hefnd  you  sleeping. 

When  I  had  occasion  to  treat  on  a  subject  near  akin 
to  this,*^  I  shewed  that  there  was  a  distinction  to  be  made 

*  In  a  funeral  sermon  for  Mrs.  Sarah  Abney,  on  Luke  xii.  "7  ;  "  Blessed 
are  those  servants,  whom  the  Lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find  watching." 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  ±25 

between  the  dead  sleep  of  a  sinner,  and  slumber  of  an 
unwatcliful  christian.  Those  who  never  had  the  work 
of  religion  begun  in  their  hearts  or  lives,  are  sleeping  the 
sleep  of  death ;  whereas  some  who  are  made  alive  by 
the  grace  of  Christ,  yet  may  indulge  sinful  drowsiness, 
and  grow  careless  and  secure,  slothful  and  inactive. 
The  wise  virgins  as  well  as  the  foolishy  were  slumber- 
ing and  sleeping;  Matt.  xxv.  5.  The  mischiefs  and 
sorrows  which  attend  each  of  these,  when  Christ  shall 
summon  them  to  judgment,  or  shall  call  them  away  from 
earth  by  natural  death,  are  great  and  formidable,  though 
they  are  not  equally  dangerous.  Let  us  consider  each 
of  them  in  succession,  in  order  to  rouse  dead  sinners 
from  their  lethargy,  and  to  keep  drowsy  christians 
awake. 

First.  Let  us  survey  the  sad  consequences  which  at- 
tend those  that  are  asleep  in  sin,  and  spiritually  dead, 
when  the  hour  of  natural  death  appproaches.  They 
are  such  as  these  : — 

I.  If  they  happen  to  be  awakened  on  the  borders  of  the 
grave,  into  what  a  horrible  confusion  and  distress  of  soul 
are  they  plunged  P  What  keen  anguish  of  conscience 
for  their  past  iniquities  seizes  upon  them  ?  What  bitter 
remorse  and  self  reproaches,  for  the  seasons  of  grace 
which  they  have  wasted,  for  the  proposals  of  mercy 
which  they  have  abused  and  rejected,  and  for  the  divine 
salvation  which  seems  now  to  be  lost  for  ever,  and  put 
almost  beyond  the  reach  of  possibility  and  hope.  They 
feel  the  messenger  of  death  laying  his  cold  hands  upon 
them  ;  and  they  shudder  and  tremble  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  approaching  misery.  They  look  up  to  heaven 
and  they  see  a  God  of  holiness  there,  as  a  consuming 
fire  ready  to  devour  them,  as  stubble  fit  for  the  flame. 
They  look  to  the  Son  of  God,  who  has  the  keys  of  death 
in  his  hand,  and  who  calls  them  away  from  the  land  of 
the  living,  even  to  Jesus,  the  compassionate  Mediator ; 


1S6  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

but  they  can  scarce  persuade  tlieni selves  to  expect  auy 
thing  from  hira,  because  they  have  turned  a  deaf  ear  so 
long  to  the  invitations  of  liis  gospel,  and  so  long  afl'ronted 
bis  divine  compassion.  They  look  behind  them,  and 
with  painful  agonies  are  frighted  at  the  mountains  of 
their  former  guilt,  ready  to  overwhelm  them.  They 
look  forward  and  see  the  pit  of  hell  opening  upon  them, 
with  all  its  torments,  long  darkness  without  a  glimpse 
of  light,  and  eternal  despair  with  no  glimmerings 
of  hope. 

Or  if  now  and  then  amidst  their  horrors,  they  would 
try  to  form  some  faint  hope  of  mercy,  how  are  their 
spirits  perplexed  with  prevailing  and  distracting  fears, 
with  keen  and  cutting  reflections  ?  *'  O  that  I  had  im- 
proved my  former  seasons  for  reading,  for  praying,  for 
meditating  on  divine  things  !  But  I  cannot  read,  I  can 
hardly  meditate,  and  scarce  know  how  to  pray.  Will 
the  ear  of  God  ever  hearken  to  the  cries  and  groans  of 
a  rebel,  that  has  so  long  resisted  his  grace  ?  Are  there 
any  pardons  to  be  had  for  a  criminal,  who  never  felt  his 
sins  till  vengeance  was  in  view  ?  Will  the  blood  of 
Christ  ever  be  applied  to  wash  a  soul  that  has  wallowed 
in  his  defilements,  till  death  roused  him  out  of  them  ? 
Will  the  meanest  favor  of  heaven  be  indulged  to  a 
wretch  wlio  has  grown  bold  in  sin,  in  opposition  to  so 
loud  and  repeated  warnings  ?  I  am  awake  indeed,  but 
I  can  see  nothing  round  me  but  distresses  and  discour- 
agements ;  and  my  soul  sinks  within  me,  and  my  heart 
dies  at  the  tlioughts  of  appearing  before  God." 

It  is  a  wise  and  just  observation  among  christians, 
though  it  is  a  very  common  one,  that  the  scriptures  give 
us  one  instance  of  a  penitent  saved  in  his  dying  hour ; 
and  that  is  the  tli'ief  upon  the  cross,  that  so  none  might 
utterly  despair  :  But  there  is  but  one  such  instance  given, 
that  none  may  presume.  The  work  of  repentance  is 
too  diflBcult,  and  too  important  a  thing,  to  be  left  to  the 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  Ig^ 

languors  of  a  dying  bed,  and  the  tumults  and  fluttevings 
of  thought,  which  attend  such  a  late  conviction.  There 
can  be  hardly  any  elBfectual  proofs  given  of  the  sincerity 
of  such  repentings.  And  1  am  verily  persuaded  there 
are  few  of  them  sincere  ;  for  we  have  often  found  these 
violent  emotions  of  conscience  vanish  again,  if  the  sinner 
has  happened  to  recover  his  health.  They  seem  to  be 
merely  the  wild  perplexities  and  struggles  of  nature, 
averse  to  misery,  rather  than  averse  to  sin.  Their  re- 
nouncing their  former  lusts,  on  the  very  borders  of  hell 
and  destruction,  is  more  like  the  vehement  and  irregular 
efforts  of  a  drowning  creature,  constrained  to  let  go  a 
most  beloved  object,  and  taking  eager  hold  of  any  plank 
for  safety,  rather  than  the  calm,  reasonable,  and  volun- 
tary designs  of  a  mariner,  who  forsakes  his  earthly  joys, 
ventures  himself  in  a  ship  that  is  oifered  him,  and  sets 
sail  for  the  heavenly  country.  I  never  will  pronounce 
such  eiForts  and  endeavors  desperate,  lest  I  limit  the 
grace  of  God  which  is  unbounded  ;  but  I  can  give  very 
little  encouragement  for  hope  to  an  hour  or  two,  of  this 
vehement  and  tumultuous  penitence,  on  the  very  brink 
of  damnation.  Judas  repented  ;  but  his  agonies  of  soul 
hurried  him  to  hasten  his  own  death,  that  he  might  go 
to  his  own  place.  And  there  is  abundance  of  such  kind 
of  repenting  in  every  corner  of  hell.  That  is  a  deep 
and  dreadful  pit,  whence  there  is  no  redemption,  though 
there  are  millions  of  such  sorts  of  penitents.  It  is  a 
strong  and  dark  prison,  where  no  beam  of  comfort  ever 
shines,  where  bitter  anguish  and  mourning  for  sins  past, 
is  no  evangelical  repentance,  but  everlasting  and  hope- 
less sorrow. 

II.  Those  that  are  found  sleeping  at  the  hour  of  death, 
are  carried  away  at  once,  from  all  their  sensual  pursuits 
and  enjoy  men' Sf  which  were  their  chosen  portion  ^  and 
their  highest  happiness.  At  once  they  lose  all  their 
golden  dreams  ;  and  their   chief  good  is,  as  it  were 


4S8  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

snatched  away  from  them  at  once,  and  for  ever.  They 
stand  on  slippery  places  ;  they  are  brought  to  destruction 
in  a  moment ;  and  all  their  former  joys  are  like  a  dream 
when  one  ivaketh,  and  finds  himself  beset  round  with 
terrors. 

Are  there  any  of  you  that  are  pleasing  yourselves 
here  in  the  days  of  youth  and  vanity,  and  indulge  your 
dreams  of  pleasure,  in  the  sleep  of  spiritual  death,  think 
of  the  approaching  moment,  when  the  death  of  nature 
shall  dissolve  your  sleep,  and  scatter  all  the  delusive 
images  of  sinful  joy.  Tliis  separation  from  the  body  of 
flesh,  is  a  fearful  sliock  given  to  the  soul,  that  makes  it 
awake  indeed.  Sermons  would  not  do  it ;  the  voice  of 
the  preacher  was  not  loud  enough  ;  strokes  of  affliction, 
and  smarting  providences  would  not  do  it ;  perhaps  the 
soul  might  be  roused  a  little,  but  dropt  into  profound 
sleep  again ;  sudden  or  surprising  deaths  near  them, 
and  even  the  pains  of  nature  in  their  own  flesli,  their  own 
sicknesses  and  diseases,  did  not  awaken  them,  nor  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  in  them  all.  But  the  parting  stroke 
tliat  divides  the  soul  and  body,  will  terrihly  awaken  the 
soul  from  the  vain  delusion,  and  all  its  fancied  delights 
for  ever  vanish. 

When  they  are  visited  by  the  Lord  of  hosts,  with  this 
tliunder  and  earthquake,  as  the  prophet  Isaiah  speaks, 
v,'hen  tMs  storm  and  tempest  of  deatli  shall  shake  the 
sinner  out  of  his  airy  visions,  he  shall  be  as  an  hungry 
man  that  dreameth  he  was  eating,  but  awakes  and  his 
soul  is  empty  ;  or  as  a  thirsty  creature  dreaming  that  he 
drinks,  hut  he  awaketh,  and  behold  he  is  faint,  and  his 
soul  is  pained  with  raging  appetite.  The  sinner  finds 
to  his  own  torment,  how  wretchedly  he  lias  deceived 
himself  and  fed  upon  vanity.  There  are  no  more  earthly 
objects  to  please  his  senses,  and  to  gratify  his  inclina- 
tions :  but  the  soul  for  ever  lives  upon  a  rack  of  carnal 
desire,  and  no  proper  object  to  satisfy  it.     His  taste  is 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  Ii39 

not  suited  to  the  pleasures  of  a  world  of  spirits,  be  cau 
find  no  God  there  to  comfort  him.  God  with  his  offers 
of  grace,  are  gone  for  ever,  and  the  world  with  its  joys 
are  for  ever  vanished,  while  the  wretched  and  malicious 
creatures,  into  whose  company  he  is  hurried,  and  who 
were  the  tempters  or  associates  of  his  crimes,  shall  stand 
round  him  to  become  his  tormentors. 

HI.  Though  death  will  awaken  sinful  souls  into  a 
sharper  and  more  lively  sense  of  divine  and  heavenly 
things  than  ever  they  had  in  this  worldly et  they  shall  never 
he  awakened  to  spiritual  life  and  holiness.  And  I  think  I 
may  add,  that  though  they  should  be  awakened  to  a  sight 
of  God,  his  justice,  and  his  grace,  to  a  sight  of  heaven  and 
hell,  more  immediate  and  perspicuous  than  what  even  the 
saints  themselves  usually  enjoy  in  this  life,  yet  they  would 
remain  still  under  the  bondage  of  their  lusts,  still  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins.  They  shall  for  ever  continue 
unbeloved  of  God,  and  incapable  of  all  the  happiness  of 
the  heavenly  state,  because  they  are  for  ever  averse  to 
the  holiness  of  God,  and  themselves  for  ever  unholy.  It 
is  only  in  the  present  state  of  trial,  and  under  the  present 
proposals  of  grace,  that  sleeping  sinners  can  be  awak- 
ened into  the  spiritual  and  divine  life.  The  voice  of 
the  Son  of  God,  that  breaks  the  monuments  of  brass,  and 
makes  tombs  of  hardest  marble  yield  to  his  call,  shall 
never  break  one  heart  of  stone,  which  is  gone  down  to 
death,  in  its  native  and  sinful  hardness.  That  almighty 
voice  that  must  awaken  the  nations  of  the  dead,  and 
command  their  bodies  up  from  the  grave,  shall  never 
awaken  one  dead  soul,  when  they  are  past  the  limits  of 
this  life.  The  compassionate  calls  of  a  Saviour,  and  the 
offers  of  mercy,  are  then  come  to  their  utmost  period. 
And  if  we  refuse  to  hear  the  call  of  mercy  to  the  moment 
of  death,  we  shall  then  be  terribly  constrained  to  feel  the 
loss  of  it,  but  never  able  to  obtain  the  blessing. 

Obstinate  sleepers  shall  be  awakened  to  see  God,  bnt 
17 


130  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

only  as  Balaam  was :  /  shall  see  Mm,  but  not  nigh  / 
Numb.  xxiv.  I7.  The  saints  in  this  life  have  God  near 
them  in  all  their  trials,  as  a  father  and  a  friend,  to  uphold, 
to  comfort,  to  sanctify,  though  they  see  him  but  darkly 
through  a  glass,  and  behold  but  little  of  his  power  or 
glory.  The  sinner  awaking  in  hell,  shall,  perhaps,  have 
a  clearer  and  more  acute  perception  of  what  God  is,  than 
any  saint  on  earth.  But  he  shall  behold  him  as  an  en- 
emy, and  not  a  friend.  If  he  beholds  him  in  the  glory 
of  his  grace,  it  is  at  a  dreadful  and  insuperable  distance  : 
there  is  no  grace  for  him.  He  sees  him  in  his  holiness, 
but  he  cannot  love  liiin  ;  he  has  no  meltings  of  true  pen- 
itence for  his  former  rebellions  against  God  ;  his  heart 
is  hardened  into  everlasting  enmity,  and  shall  never  taste 
of  his  love.  Hence  arise  all  the  foul  and  gnawing  pas- 
sions of  envy,  malignity,  and  long  despair,  which  are  the 
very  image  of  satan,  and  change  mankind  into  devils. 

These  impenitent  sons  and  daughters  of  men  shall 
grow  into  the  more  complete  likeness  of  those  wicked 
spirits,  and,  under  tlie  impressions  of  their  guilt  and 
damnation,  they  sliall  rival  those  apostate  and  cursed 
creatures,in  the  obstinate  hatred  of  God  and  all  that  is  holy. 

IV.  Hence  it  will  follow  in  the  last  place,  tliat  the 
sinner  who  i^fast  asleep  in  his  sins  at  the  hour  of  death , 
shall  awake  into  such  a  life  as  is  worse  than  dying.  He 
shall  be  surprised  all  at  once  into  darkness  and  fire,  which 
have  no  gleam  of  light,  and  sorrows  without  mitigation.and 
which  can  find  no  end.  The  punishm.ent  of  hell  is  not 
called  eternal  death,  to  denote  a  state  of  senseless  and 
stupid  existence ;  but  death  being  the  most  opposite  to 
life,  and  all  the  enjoyments  of  it,  the  misery  of  hell  is 
described  by  deatli,  as  the  most  formidable  thing  to  na- 
ture, as  a  word  that  puts  a  period  to  all  the  enjoyments 
of  this  mortal  life,  and  stands  directly  opposite  to  a  life 
of  joy  and  glory  in  the  immortal  world.  Happy  would 
it  be  for  such  souls  if  they  could  sink  into  an  evevlasting 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  131 

sleep,  and  grow  stupid  and  senseless  for  ever  and  ever. 
But  this  is  a  favor  not  to  be  granted  to  those  who  have 
been  constant  and  nnrepenting  rebels,  against  the  law 
and  the  grace  of  God. 

The  moment  when  the  body  falls  asleep  in  death,  the 
soul  is  more  awake  than  ever,  to  behold  its  own  guilt 
and  wretchedness.  It  has  then  such  a  lively  and  pierc- 
ing sense  of  its  own  iniquities,  and  the  divine  wrath  that 
is  due  to  them,  as  it  never  saw  or  felt  before.  The  in- 
word  senses  of  the  soul,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  which 
have  been  darkened  and  stupified,  and  benumbed  in  this 
body,  are  all  awake  at  once,  when  the  veil  of  ilesh  is 
thrown  off,  and  the  curtains  are  drawn  back,  which  di- 
vided them  from  the  world  of  spirits.  Every  thought  of 
sin,  and  the  anger  of  God^  wounds  the  spirit  deep  in  this 
awakened  state,  though  it  scarce  felt  any  thing  of  it  be- 
fore ;  and  a  wounded  spirit  icJio  can  bear  ?  Prov. 
xviii  14.  But  sinners  must  bear  it  days  without  end,  and 
ages  without  hope. 

Then  the  crimes  they  have  committed,  and  the  sinful 
pleasures  they  have  indulged,  shall  glare  upon  their  re- 
membrance, and  stare  them  in  the  face  with  dreadful 
surprise ;  and  each  of  them  is  enough  to  drive  a  soul  to 
despair.  Nor  can  they  turn  tlieir  eyes  away  from  the 
horrid  sight,  for  their  criminal  practices  beset  them 
around,  and  the  naked  soul  is  all  sight  and  all  sense  ;  it 
is  eye  and  ear  all  over ;  it  hears  the  dreadful  curses  of 
the  law,  and  the  sentence  of  the  Judge,  and  never,  never 
forgets  it.  This  is  the  character,  these  the  circumstances 
of  an  obstinate  sinner,  that  awakes  not  till  the  moment 
of  death,  and  lift  up  his  eyes  in  hell,  as  our  Saviour  ex- 
presses it.  These  will  be  the  consequences  of  our  guilt 
and  folly,  if  we  are  found  in  a  dead  sleep  of  sin,  when 
our  Lord  comes  to  call  us  from  this  mortal  state. 

Secondlijf  Let  us  spend  a  few  thoughts  also  upon  the 
dangerous  and  unhappy  circumstances  of  those  of  whom 


13S  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

we  may  have  some  reason  to  hope,  they  have  once  begun 
religion  in  good  earnest,  and  are  made  spiritually  alive, 
but  have  indulged  themselves  in  drowsiness,  and  woirn  out 
the  latter  end  of  their  days  in  a  careless,  secure,  and 
slothful  frame  of  spirit. 

1.  If  they  have  had  the  principle  of  vital  religion 
"wrought  in  their  hearts,  yet  by  these  criminal  slumbers j 
they  darken  and  lose  their  evidences  of  grace  ;  and  by  this 
means,  they  cut  themselves  off  from  the  sweet  reflec- 
tions and  comforts  of  it  on  a  dying  bed,  tchen  they  have 
most  need  of  them.  They  know  not  whether  they  are  the 
children  of  God  or  no,  and  are  in  anxious  confusion  and 
distressing  fear.  They  have  scarce  any  plain  proofs  of 
their  conversion  to  God,  and  the  evidences  of  tnie  Chris- 
tianity ready  at  hand,  when  all  are  little  enougli  to  sup- 
port their  spirits.  They  have  not  used  themselves  to 
search  for  them  by  self  inquiry,  and  to  keep  them  in 
their  sight ;  and  therefore  they  are  missing  in  this  im- 
poi-tant  hour.  They  have  not  been  wont  to  live  upon 
their  lieavenly  hopes,  and  they  cannot  be  found  when 
they  want  them  to  rest  upon  in  death.  They  die  there- 
fore almost  like  sinners,  though  they  may,  perhaps,  have 
been  once  converted  to  holiness  ;  and  there  may  be  a. 
root  of  grace  remaining  in  them  ;  and  the  reason  is, 
because  they  have  lived  too  much  as  sinners  do.  They 
liave  given  too  great  and  criminal  indulgence  to  the 
vain  and  worldly  cares,  or  the  trifling  amusements  of 
this  life.  These  have  engrossed  almost  all  their  thoughts 
and  their  time ;  and  therefore  in  the  day  of  death,  they 
fall  under  terrors  and  painful  apprehensions  of  a  doubt- 
ful eternity  just  at  hand. 

If  Ave  have  not  walked  closely  with  God  in  this  world, 
we  may  well  be  afraid  to  appear  before  him  in  the 
next.  If  we  have  not  maintained  a  constant  converse 
witli  Jesus  our  Saviour,  by  holy  exercises  of  faith  and 
hope,  it  is  no  wonder  if  we  are  not  so  ready  w  itli  cheer- 


SURPRISE 'IN  DEATH.  I33 

fulness  and  joy,  to  resign  our  departing  spirits  into  bis 
hand.  It  is  possible  we  may  have  a  right  to  the  inher- 
heritance  of  heaven,  having  had  some  sight  of  it  by  faith 
as  revealed  in  the  gospel,  having  in  the  main  chosen  it 
for  our  portion,  and  set  our  feet  in  the  path  of  holiness 
that  leads  to  it ;  but  we  have  so  often  wandered  out  of 
the  way,  that  in  this  awful  and  solemn  hour,  we  shall  be 
in  doubt  whether  we  shall  be  received  at  the  gates,  and 
enter  into  the  city. 

Such  unwatchful  christians  have  not  kept  the  eternal 
glories  of  heaven,  in  their  constant  and  active  pursuit, 
they  have  not  lived  upon  them  as  their  portion  and  in- 
heritance, they  have  been  too  much  strangers  to  the 
invisible  world  of  happiness,  and  they  know  not  how  to 
venture  through  death  into  it.  They  have  built  indeed 
upon  the  solid  foundation,  Christ  Jesus  and  the  gospel ; 
but  they  have  mingled  so  much  hay  and  stubble  with  the 
superstructure,  that  when  they  depart  hence,  or  when 
they  appear  before  Christ  in  judgment,  they  shall  suffer 
great  loss  by  the  burning  of  their  works,  yet  themselves 
may  be  saved  so  as  by  fire  ;  1  Cor.  iii.  10 — 15.  They  may 
pass  as  it  were  by  the  flame  of  hell,  and  have  something 
like  the  scorching  terrors  of  it  in  death,  tliough  the 
abounding  and  forgiving  grace  of  the  gospel,  may  con- 
vey them  safe  to  heaven.  They  escape  as  a  man  that  is 
awakened  with  the  sudden  alarms  of  fire,  who  suffers  the 
loss  of  his  substance,  and  a  great  part  of  the  fruit  of  liis 
labors,  and  just  saves  his  own  life.  They  plunge  into 
eternity,  and  make  a  sort  of  terrible  escape  from  hell. 

2.  ^'  They  can  never  expect  any  peculiar  favors  from 
heaven  at  the  hour  of  death,  no  special  visitations  of  the 
comforting  spirit,  nor  that  the  love  of  God,  and  the  joy  of 
his  presence,  should  attend  them  through  the  dark  val- 
ley." It  is  not  to  such  unwatchful  or  sleepy  christians, 
that  God  is  wont  to  vouchsafe  his  choicest  consolations. 
They  fall  under  terrible  fears  about  the  pardon  of  their 


134  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

sins,  when  they  stand  in  most  need  of  the  sight  of  their 
pardon ;  and  Christ  as  the  ruler  of  his  church,  sees  it 
fit  they  shoukl  be  tlias  punished  for  their  negligence. 
They  lay  hold  of  the  promises  of  mercy  with  a  trembling 
hand,  and  cannot  claim  them  by  a  vigorous  faith,  because 
they  have  not  been  wont  to  live  upon  them,  nor  do 
they  see  those  holy  characters  in  their  own  hearts  and 
lives,  which  confirm  their  title  to  them.  They  have  no 
bright  views  of  the  celestial  world,  and  earnests  of  their 
salvation,  for  it  is  only  for  watchful  souls,  that  these 
cordials  are  prepared  in  the  fainting  hour  ;  it  is  only  to 
the  watchful  christian,  that  these  foretastes  of  glory  are 
given.  ''  The  fruit  of  righteousness  is  peace,  and  the 
eftect  of  righteousness  is  quietness  and  assurance  for  ever, 
Isaiah  xxxii.  17.  Blessed  is  he  which  icatcheth,  and 
Jeeepeth  his  garments  clean,  that  he  may  enter  with  tri- 
umph into  that  city,  where  nothing  shall  enter  that  de- 
fileth. 

3.  Sliimhering  and  slothful  christians  are  oftentimes 
left  to  wrestle  icith  sore  temptations  of  satan,  and  have 
dreadful  conflicts  in  the  day  of  death  ;  and  the  reason  is 
evident,  because  they  have  not  watclied  against  their  ad- 
versary, and  obtained  but  few  victories  over  him  in  their 
life.  These  temptations  are  keen  and  piercing  thorns, 
that  enter  deep  into  the  heart  of  a  dying  creature.  The 
devil  may  be  let  loose  upon  them  ivith  great  wrath, 
Tcnowing  that  his  time  is  but  short ;  and  yet  tliere  is 
great  justice  in  the  conduct  of  the  God  in  heaven,  in 
giving  them  up  to  be  buffetted  by  the  powers  of  hell. 
What  frightful  agonies  are  raised  in  the  conscience,  by 
the  temper,  and  the  accuser  of  souls,  on  a  sick  or  dying 
bed,  can  hardly  be  described  by  the  living,  and  are 
known  only  to  those  who  have  felt  them  in  death. 

4.  Such  drowsy  christians  make  dismal  work  for  new 
and  terrible  repentance  on  a  death  bed  ;  for,  though  they 
have  sincerely  repented  in  times  past  of  their  former  sins, 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  135 

yet  having  too  much  omitted  the  self-mortifying  duties, 
having  given  too  much  indulgence  to  temptation  and  fol- 
ly, and  having  not  maintained  this  habitual  penitence, 
for  their  daily  oflences  in  constant  exercise,  tlieir  spirits 
are  now  filled  with  fresli  convictions,  and  bitter  remorse 
of  heart.  The  guilt  of  their  careless  and  slothful  con- 
duct finds  them  out  now,  and  besets  them  around,  and 
they  feel  most  acute  sorrows,  and  wounding  reflections 
of  conscience,  while  they  have  need  of  most  comfort. 
What  a  glorious  entrance  had  St.  Paul  into  the  world  of 
spirits,  and  the  presence  of  Christ?  He  had  made  re- 
pentance and  mortification  and  fiiith  in  Jesus,  his  daily 
work.  ^^O  wretched  man  that  I  am!  Who  shall  de- 
liver me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  I  run,  I  fight,  I 
subdue  my  body,  and  keep  it  under ;  I  am  crucified  to 
the  world,  and  the  world  to  me  ;  the  life  which  I  live  in 
the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  When 
he  was  ready  to  he  offered  up,  and  the  time  of  Ids  dejmr- 
ture  was  at  hand,  from  the  edge  of  tlie  sword,  and  the 
borders  of  the  grave,  he  could  look  back  upon  his  for- 
mer life,  and  say,  "  I  have  fouglit  the  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  tlie  faith,  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  rigliteousness,  which 
the  Lord  the  righteous  Judge  will  give  me."  3  Tim. 
iv.  7,  8. 

5.  The  unwatchful  christian,  at  the  hour  of  death, 
has  the  pain  and  anguish  of  reflecting,  that  he  has  omit- 
ted many  duties  to  God  and  man,  and  these  can  never  be 
performed  now ;  that  he  has  done  scai'ce  any  services 
for  Christ  in  the  world,  and  those  must  be  left  for  ever 
undone.  There  is  no  further  work  or  device,  no  labors 
of  zeal,  no  activity  for  God  in  the  grave,  whither  we  are 
hastening;  Eccl.  ix.  10.  ^^Alas!  I  have  brought  forth 
but  little  fruit  to  God,  and  it  is  Avell  if  I  be  not  cast  away 
as  an  unprofitable  servant.  My  talents  have  laid  bound 
up  in  rust,  or  been  but  poorly  employed,  wliilst  T  have 


136  feURPIUSE  IN  DEATH 

laid  slumbering  and  inactive.  The  records  of  my  life  in 
the  court  of  heaven,  Avill  shew  but  very  little  service  for 
God  amongst  men  ;  I  have  raised  few  monuments  of  praise 
to  my  Redeemer,  and  I  can  never  raise  them  now.  I 
shall  have  but  few  testimonies  for  my  love  and  zeal,  to 
appear  in  the  great  day  of  account,  when  the  martyi's, 
and  the  confessors,  and  tlie  lively  christians,  shall  be 
surrounded  with  the  living  ensigns  of  their  victories  over 
sin  and  the  world,  and  their  glorious  services  for  their 
Redeemer.  Wretch  that  I  am  !  that  I  have  loved  my 
Lord  at  so  cold  a  rate,  and  laid  slumbering  on  a  bed  of 
ease,  whilst  I  should  have  been  fighting  the  battles  of 
the  Lord,  and  gaining  daily  honors  for  my  Saviour  !" 

6.  Jls  such  sort  of  christians  give  but  little  glory  to 
God  in  life,  so  they  do  him  no  honor  in  death  :  they  are 
no  ornaments  to  religion  ivhile  they  continue  here,  and 
leave  perhaps  but  little  comfort  with  their  friends  when 
they  go  hence.  Doubtings  and  jealousies  about  their 
eternal  welfare,  mingle  with  our  tears  and  sorrows  for  a 
dying  friend  ;  these  anxious  fears  about  the  departed 
spirit,  swell  the  tide  of  our  grief  high,  and  double  the  in- 
ward anguish.  They  are  gone  alas  !  from  our  world, 
but  we  know  not  whither  they  are  gone,  to  heaven  or  to 
hell.  A  sad  fareAvell  to  tliose  whom  we  love  !  a  dismal 
parting- stroke,  and  a  long  heart-ache  ! 

And  wliat  honor  can  be  expected  to  be  done  to  God  or 
his  Son,  what  reputation  or  glory  can  be  given  to  religion 
and  the  gospel,  by  a  drowsy  christian  departing,  as  it 
were,  under  a  spiritual  letliargy  ?  He  dies  under  a  cloud, 
and  casts  a  gloom  upon  the  christian  faith.  St.  Paul 
was  a  man  of  another  spirit,  a  lively  and  active  saint, 
full  of  vigor  and  zeal  in  his  soul.  It  was  t!ie  holy  resolu- 
tion and  assurance  of  tliis  blessed  apostle,  ^^  that  Christ 
should  be  magnified  in  his  body,  whether  by  life  or 
death  ;"  Phil.  i.  20.  He  spent  liis  life  in  the  service  of 
Christ,  and  he  could  rejoice  in  death  as  his  gain.     It  is 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  137 

a  glory  to  the  gospel,  when  we  can  lie  down  and  die  with 
courage,  in  the  hope  of  its  promised  blessings.  It  is  an 
honor  to  our  common  faith,  when  it  overcomes  tlie  terrors 
of  death,  and  raises  the  christian  to  a  song  of  triumph,  in 
view  of  the  last  enemy.  It  is  as  a  new  crown  put  upon 
the  head  of  our  Redeemer,  and  a  living  cordial  put  into 
the  hands  of  mourning  friends  in  our  dying  hour,  when  we 
can  take  our  leave  of  them  with  holy  fortitude,  rejoicing 
in  the  salvation  of  Christ.  No  sooner  does  he  call  but 
we  are  ready,  and  can  answer,  with  lioly  transport, 
Lord  1  come.  This  is  a  blessing  that  belongs  only  to 
the  watchful  christian.  May  every  one  of  us  be  awake 
to  salvation  in  our  expiring  moments,  and  partake  of 
this  glorious  blessedness ! 

I  proceed  now  to  a  few  remarks,  and  particularly 
such  as  relate  to  the  necessity  and  duty  of  constant 
watchfulness,  and  the  hazardous  case  of  sleeping  souls. 

1.  Remark.  To  presume  on  long  life  is  a  most  dan- 
gerous temptation,  for  it  is  the  common  spring  and 
cause  of  spiritual  sleep  and  drowsiness.  Could  we 
take  an  inward  view  of  the  hearts  of  men,  and  trace  out 
the  springs  of  their  coldness  and  indifference  about  eter- 
nal things,  and  the  shameful  neglect  of  their  most  im- 
portant interests,  we  siiould  find  this  secret  thought  in 
the  bottom  of  tiieir  hearts,  that  we  are  not  like  to  die  to- 
diij  or  to-morrow.  They  put  this  evil  day  afar  off,  and 
ind'ilge  therasplves  in  their  carnal  delights,  without  due 
solicitude  to  prepare  for  the  call  of  God.  There  is 
scarce  any  thing  produces  so  much  evil  fruit  in  the 
world,  so  much  shameful  wickedness  amongst  the  sen- 
sual and  the  profane,  or  such  neglect  of  lively  religion 
among  real  christians,  as  this  bitter  root  of  presumption 
upon  life  and  time  before  us.  Matt.  xxiv.  48,  49.  The 
evil  servant  did  not  hegin  to  smite  his  fellows,  and  to 
eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken,  till  he  said  in  his  heart, 
my  Lord  delayeth  his  coming.  It  was  lahile  the  bride- 
18 


138  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

groom  tarried,  and  they  imagined  he  would  tarry  lon- 
ger, tliat  even  the  wise  virgins  fell  into  slumbers.  Ask 
your  own  hearts,  my  friends,  does  not  this  thought  se- 
cretly lurk  within  you,  when  you  comply  with  a  temp- 
tation, surely  T  shall  not  die  yet,  I  have  no  sickness  upon 
me,  nor  tokens  of  death,  1  shall  live  a  little  longer,  and 
repent  of  my  follies  ?  Vain  expectation  and  groundless 
fancy  !  When  you  see  the  young,  and  the  strong,  and 
the  healthy,  seized  away  from  the  midst  of  you,  and  a 
final  period  put  at  once  to  all  their  works  and  designs  in 
this  life.  Yet  we  are  foolish  enough  to  imagine  our  term 
of  life  shall  be  extended,  and  we  presume  upon  months 
and  years,  which  God  hath  not  written  down  for  us  in 
his  own  book,  and  which  he  will  never  give  us  to  enjoy. 
We  are  all  borderers  upon  the  river  of  death,  which 
conveys  us  into  the  eternal  world,  and  we  should  be 
ever  waiting  the  call  of  our  Lord,  that  we  may  launch 
away  witli  joy,  to  the  regions  of  immortality.  But 
thoughtless  creatures  that  we  are,  we  are  perpetually 
wandering  far  up  into  the  fields  of  sense  and  time,  we  are 
gathering  the  gay  and  fading  flowers  that  grow  there,  and 
filling  our  laps  with  them  as  a  fair  treasure,  or  makine; 
garlands  for  ambition  to  crown  our  brows,  till  one  and 
another  of  us  is  called  oif  on  a  sudden,  and  hurried  away 
from  this  mortal  coast.  Tliose  of  us  who  survive,  are 
surprised  a  little,  we  stand  gazing,  we  follow  our  depart- 
ing friends  with  a  weeping  eye  for  a  minute  or  two,  and 
then  we  fall  to  our  amusements  again,  and  grow  busy  as 
before,  in  gathering  the  flowers  of  time  and  sense.  O 
how  fond  we  are  to  eurich  ourselves  with  these  perisliing 
trifles,  and  adorn  our  heads  with  honors  and  withering 
vanities,  never  thinking  whicli  of  us  may  receive  the  next 
summons  to  leave  all  behind  us,  and  stand  before  God  : 
but  each  presumes  it  will  not  be  sent  to  me.  We  trifle 
with  God  antl  things  eternal,  or  utterly  forget  them, 
while  our  hands  and  our  hearts  are  thus  deeply  engaged 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  139 

in  the  pursuit  of  our  earthly  delights.  All  our  powers  of 
thought  and  actiou,  are  intensely  busied  amongst  the 
dreams  of  this  life,  while  we  are  asleep  to  God,  because 
we  vainly  imagine  he  will  not  call  us  yet. 

2.  Remark.  Whatsoever  puts  us  in  mind  of  dying, 
should  be  improved  to  awaken  us  from  our  spiritual 
sleep.  Sudden  deaths  near  us  should  have  this  affect  ; 
our  young  companions  and  acquaintance  snatched  away 
from  among  us  in  an  unexpected  hour,  should  become 
our  monitors  in  death,  and  teach  us  this  divine  and  need- 
ful lesson.  The  surprising  loss  of  our  friends  who  lay 
near  our  hearts,  should  put  us  in  mind  of  our  own  de- 
parture, and  powerfully  awaken  us  from  our  dangerous 
slumbers.  Sinners  when  they  feel  no  sorrows,  they 
think  of  no  death  :  but  ivhen  the  judgments  of  God  are 
in  the  earth,  his  spirit  can  awaken  the  inhabitants  of  the 
ivorld  to  learn  righteousness.  At  such  seasons  it  is  time 
for  the  sinners  in  Zion  to  be  afraid,  sin([  fearfulness  to 
surprise  the  hyprocrites.  Even  the  children  of  God 
have  sometimes  need  of  painful  warning-pieces,  to  awa- 
ken them  from  their  careless,  their  slothful,  and  their 
secure  frame.  And  as  for  those  souls  who  are  indeed 
awake  to  righteousness,  and  lively  in  the  practice  of  all 
religion  and  virtue,  such  sudden  and  awful  strokes  of 
providence  have  a  happy  tendency  to  wean  them  from 
creatures,  and  keep  them  awake  to  God,  that  when  their 
Lord  comes  he  may  find  them  watching,  and  pronounce 
upon  them  everlasting  blessedness. 

3.  Remark.  JSTo  person  can  be  exempted  from  this 
duty  of  watchfulness,  till  he  is  Lord  of  his  own  life,  and 
can  appoint  the  time  of  his  own  dying.  Then  indeed 
you  might  have  some  colour  for  your  carnal  indulgen- 
cies,  some  pretence  for  sleeping,  if  you  were  sovereign 
of  death  and  the  grave,  and  had  tlie  keys  in  your  own 
hand. 

And  truly  such  as  venture  to  sleep  in  sin,  do  in  effect 


140  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

say,  we  are  lords  ef  our  own  life.     They  act  and  man- 
age as  if  their  times  were  in  their  own  hands,  and  not  in 
the  hand  of  their  Maker.     But  the   watchful  christian 
lives  upon  that  principle,  which  David  professes,  Psalm. 
xxxi.  15  ;  my  times  are  in  thine  hand,  O  Lr>rd  ;  and  they 
never  give  rest  to  themselves  till  they  can  rejoice  with 
him,  and  say  to  the  Lord,  "  thou  art  my  God,  into  thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit,  for  thou  hast  redeemed  it,  and 
I  leave  it  to  thy  appointment  when  thou   wilt   dislodge 
me  from  this  body  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  call  me  into 
thy  more  immediate  presence."     If  we  could  but  resist 
the  messenger  of  death,  when  the   Lord   of  hosts    has 
sent  it,  if  we  could  shut  the  mouth  of  the  grave  when  the 
Son  of  God  has  opened  it  for  us,  with  the  key  that  is 
intrusted  in  his  hand,  we  might  say  then  to  our  souls, 
sleep  on  upon  your  bed  of  ease,  and  take  your  rest.     But 
wo  be  to  those,  who  will  venture  to  sleep  in  an  unholy 
and  unpardoned  state,  or  even  allow  themselves  the  in- 
dulgence of  short  and  sinful  slumbers,  when  they  cannot 
resist  death  one  moment,  when  they  cannot    delay  the 
summons  of  heaven,  when  they  cannot  defer  their  ap- 
pearance before  that  Judge,   whose  sentence  is   eternal 
pleasure,  or  everlasting  pain. 

Our  Itoly  watch  must  not  be  intermitted  one  moment, 
for  every  following  moment  is  a  grand  uncertainty. 
There  is  no  minute  of  life,  no  poiut  of  time,  wherein  I 
can  say  /  shall  not  die,  and  therefore  I  should  not  dare 
to  say,  this  minute  I  ivill  take  a  short  slumber.  What 
if  my  Lord  should  summon  me  while  he  finds  me  sleep- 
ing? His  command  cannot  be  disobeyed,  the  very  call 
and  sound  of  it  divides  me  from  flesh  and  blood,  and  all 
that  is  mortal,  and  sends  me  at  once  into  the  eternal 
world,  for  it  is  an  almighty  voice. 

4.  Remark.  As  it  is  a  foolish  and  dangerous  thing, 
for  any  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men  to  presume 
upon  long  life,  and  neglect  their  watch,  so  persons  un- 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  14| 

der  some  'peculiar  circumstances,  are  eminently  called 
to  he  ever  wakeful.  Give  me  leave  here  to  reckon  up 
some  of  them,  and  make  a  particular  address  to  the  per- 
sons concerned. 

1.  Is  your  constitution  of  body  weak  and  feeble  ?  You 
carry  then  a  perpetual  w^arning  about  you  never  to  in- 
dulge sinful  drowsiness.  Every  langor  of  nature  as- 
sures you,  that  it  is  sinking  to  the  dust.  Every  pain 
you  feel,  should  put  you  in  mind,  that  the  pains  of  death 
are  ready  to  seize  you.  You  are  tottering  upon  the  very 
borders  of  the  grave,  and  will  you  venture  to  drop  in 
before  your  hopes  of  life  and  immortality  are  secured, 
and  a  joyful  resurrection  ?  You  pass  perhaps  many 
nights,  wherein  the  infirmities  of  your  flesh  will  not  suf- 
fer you  to  sleep,  and  to  take  that  common  refreshment 
of  nature,  and  shall  not  these  same  infirmities  keep  you 
awake  to  things  spiritual,  and  rouse  all  your  thoughts 
and  cares  about  your  immortal  interests? 

2.  You  whose  circumstances  or  employments  of  life, 
expose  you  to  perpetual  dangers  either  by  land  or  by  sea  / 
yon  who  carry  your  lives  as  it  were  in  your  hand,  and 
are  often  in  a  day  within  a  few  inches  of  death,  is  it  not 
necessary  for  you  to  inquire  daily.  Am  I  prepared  for  a 
departure  hence  ?  Am  I  ready  to  hear  the  summons  of 
my  Lord,  and  ready  to  give  up  my  account  before  him  ? 
Shall  I  dare  go  on  another  day  with  my  sins  unpar- 
doned, with  my  soul  unsanctified,  and  in  immediate 
danger  of  eternal  misery?  A  fall  from  a  horse,  or  a 
house  top,  may  send  you  down  to  the  pit  whence  there 
is  no  redemption.  Every  wind  that  blows,  and  every 
rising  wave,  may  convey  you  into  the  eternal  world ; 
and  are  you  ready  to  meet  the  great  God  in  such  a  sur- 
prise, and  without  warning  ? 

3.  You  who  are  young,  and  vigorous,  and  flourish 
amidst  all  the  gaities  and  allurements  of  life,  you  are  in 
most  danger  of  being  lulled  asleep  in  sin,  and  therefore 


142  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH. 

I  addressed  you  lately  in  a  funeral  discourse,  when  the 
present  providence  gave  each  of  you  a  new  and  loud  call 
to  awake,  and  I  pray  God  you  may  hear  his  voice  in  it. 

4.  Perhaps  others  of  you  are  arrived  to  old  age,  and 
the  course  of  nature  forhids  you  to  expect  a  long  contin- 
uance in  the  land  of  the  living.  Are  any  of  my  hearers 
ancient  sinners  and  asleep  still  ?  Venturous  and  thought- 
less creatures  !  That  have  grown  old  in  slumber,  and 
worn  out  their  whole  life  in  iniquities  !  Surely  it  is  time 
for  you  to  hear  the  voice  of  tlie  Son  of  God  in  the  gos- 
pel, and  accept  of  his  salvation.  Behold  the  Judge  is 
at  the  door,  he  comes  speedily,  and  he  will  not  tarry, 
his  herald  of  death  is  just  at  hand.  Are  you  willing  lie 
should  seize  you  in  a  deadly  sleep,  and  send  you  into 
eternal  sorrows  ? 

And  let  aged  christians  bestir  themselves,  and  awake 
from  their  slothful  and  secure  frames  of  spirit ;  let  them 
look  upward  to  the  crown  that  is  not  far  oif,  to  the  prize 
that  is  almost  within  reach.  Whatsoever  your  hand  or 
hesirtjlnd  to  do  for  God,  do  it  tcith  all  your  zeal  and 
might.  Let  your  loins  he  girt  about,  and  your  natural 
powers  active  in  his  service,  let  your  lamjj  of  profession 
be  bright  and  burning,  that  when  Jesus  comes,  ye  may 
receive  him  with  joy. 

5.  And  are  there  any  of  you  that  are  under  decays  of 
grace  and  piety,  that  are  laboring  and  wrestling  with 
strong  corruptions,  or  in  actual  conflict  with  repeated 
temptations  which  too  often  prevail  over  you,  it  becomes 
you  to  hear  the  watch-word  which  Christ  often  gives  to 
his  churches  under  such  circumstances.  Make  haste 
and  awake  unto  holiness,  be  watchful  and  strengthen 
the  things  that  remain  that  are  ready  to  die  ;  hold  fast 
ivhat  thou  hast  received ;  remember  thy  first  affection 
and  zeal,  and  repent  and  mourn  for  what  thou  hast  lost, 
lest  I  come  upon  thee  as  a  thief,  and  thou  shall  notknow 
the  hour.    Bemember  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent, 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  143 

and  do  thy  first  works,  for  thou  hast  lost  thy  first  love. 
Have  a  care  of  dangerous  luke-u'armness,  and  indiffer- 
ence in  the  things  of  religion.  This  is  the  very  temper  of 
a  sleepy  declining  christian,  wliile  he  dreams  he  is  rich 
and  has  great  attainments.  Take  heed,  lest  presuming 
upon  thy  riches  and  thy  self-sufficiency,  thou  shouldest 
be  found  wretched  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind, 
and  naked.  Keep  your  souls  awake  hourly,  and  be 
upon  your  guard  against  every  adversary,  and  every  de- 
filement, lest  ye  be  seized  away  in  the  commission  of 
some  sin,  or  in  the  compliance  with  some  foul  tempta- 
tion. The  drowsy  soldier  is  liable  to  be  led  captive, 
and  to  die  in  fetters,  and  groan  heavily  in  death.  But 
blessed  is  the  watchful  cln-istian  ;  he  shall  be  found 
amongst  the  overcomers,  and  shall  partake  of  the  rich 
variety  of  divine  favors,  which  are  contained  in  the 
epistles  to  the  seven  churches  ;  Rev.  ii.  and  iii. 

Though  the  greatest  part  of  a  former  discourse,  has 
been  describing  the  blessedness  of  a  watchful  christian 
at  the  hour  of  death,  and  in  this  I  have  set  before  you 
the  sad  consequences  that  attend  sleepers,  (both  which 
are  powerful  preservatives  against  drowsiness)  yet  at 
the  conclusion  of  this  sermon,  give  me  leave  to  add  a 
few  more  motives  to  tine  duty  of  watchfulness,  for  we 
cannot  be  too  well  guarded  against  the  danger  of  spirit- 
ual sloth  and  security. 

Motive  1.  Our  natures  at  best  in  the  jJresent  state  are 
too  much  inclined  to  slumber.  We  are  too  ready  to  fall 
asleep  hourly.  All  the  saints  on  earth,  even  the  most 
lively  and  active  of  them,  are  not  out  of  danger,  while 
they  carry  this  flesh  and  blood  about  them.  Indeed  the 
best  of  christians  here  below  dwell  but  as  it  were  in  twi- 
light, and  in  some  sense  they  may  be  described  as  per- 
sons between  sleeping  and  waking,  in  comparison  of 
the  world  of  spirits.  We  liehold  divine  things  here  but 
darkly,  and  exert  our  spiritual  faculties  but  in  a  feeble 


144i  SURPRISE  IN  DEATH, 

manner.  It  is  only  in  the  other  ^yorlcl,  that  we  are  broad 
awake,  and  in  the  perfect  and  unrestrained  exercise  of 
our  vital  powers  ;  there  only  the  complete  life  and  vig- 
or of  a  saint  appears.  In  such  a  drowsy  state  then,  and 
in  this  dusky  hour,  we  cannot  be  too  diligent  in  rousing 
ourselves,  lest  we  sink  tlown  into  dangerous  slumbers. 
Besides,  if  we  profess  to  be  children  of  the  light  and  of 
the  day,  and  growing  up  to  a  brighter  immortality,  let 
us  not  sleep  as  others  do  wlio  are  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  night  and  darkness  ;   t  Thess.  v.  4.  5. 

Motive  %.  Almost  every  thing  around  us  in  this  world 
of  sense  and  sin,  tends  to  lull  us  asleep  again  as  soon  as 
we  begin  to  be  awake.  The  busy  or  tiie  pleasant  scenes 
of  this  temporal  life  are  ever  calling  away  our  thoughts 
from  eternal  things,  they  conceal  from  us  the  spiritual 
world,  and  close  our  eyes  to  God,  and  things  divine  and 
heavenly.  If  the  eye  of  the  soul  were  but  open  to  in- 
visible things,  what  lively  christians  should  we  be  ? 
But  either  the  Avinds  of  worldly  cares  rock  us  to  sleep, 
or  the  charm  of  worldly  pleasures  sooth  us  into  deceit- 
ful slumbers.  We  are  too  ready  to  indulge  earthly  de- 
lights, and  while  we  dream  of  pleasure  in  the  creatures, 
we  lose,  or  at  least,  abate  our  delights  in  God.  Even 
the  lawful  satisfactions  of  flesh  and  sense,  and  the  enti- 
cing oljjects  round  about  us,  may  attach  our  hearts  so 
fast  to  them,  as  to  draw  us  down  into  a  bed  of  carnal 
ease,  till  we  fall  asleep  in  spiritual  security,  and  forget 
that  we  are  made  for  heaven,  and  that  our  hope  and 
our  home  is  on  high. 

Motive  3.  Many  thousands  have  been  found  sleeping 
at  the  call  of  Christ ;  some  perhaps  in  a  profound  and 
deadly  sleep,  and  others  in  an  hour  of  dangerous  slum- 
ber. Many  an  acquaintance  of  ours  has  gone  down  to 
the  grave,  when  neither  they  nor  we  thought  of  their 
dying  at  such  a  season.  But  as  thoughtless  as  they  were, 
they  were  never  the  further  from  the  point  of  death  : 


SURPRISE  IN  DE\TH.  145 

and  we  shudder  with  horror,  when  we  think  what  is 
become  of  their  souls. 

While  we  are  young,  we  are  ready  to  please  ourselves 
with  the  enjoyments  of  life,  and  flatter  our  hopes  with  a 
long  succession  of  them.  We  suppose  death  to  be  at  a 
distance  of  fifty  or  three  score  miles  :  threescore  years 
and  ten  is  the  appointed  period.  But  alas  !  how  few 
are  there  whose  hopes  are  fulfilled,  or  whose  life  is  ex- 
tended to  those  dimensions  ?  Perhaps  the  messenger 
of  death  is  within  a  furlong  of  our  dwelling  ;  a  few  more 
steps  onward,  and  he  smites  us  down  to  the  dust. 

There  are  some  beautiful  verses  whicli  I  have  read 
perhaps  thirty  years  ago,  wherein  the  ingenious  author 
describes  the  different  stages  of  human  life,  under  the 
image  of  a  fair  prospect  or  landscape  ;  and  death  is 
placed  by  mistaken  mortals,  afar  off,  beyond  them  all. 
Since  the  lines  return  now  upon  my  remembrance,  I 
will  repeat  them  here  with  some  small  alteration.  They 
are  as  follows  : 

Life  and  the  scenes  that  round  it  rise. 

Share  in  the  same  uncertainties  ; 

Yet  still  we  hug  ourselves  with  vain  presage 

Of  future  days  serene  and  long  ; 

Of  pleasures  fresh  and  ever  strong. 
An  active  youth  and  slow  declining  age. 

Like  a  fair  prospect  still  we  make 

Things  future  pleasing  forms  to  take  : 
First  verdant  meads  arise  and  flowery  fields  : 

Cool  groves  and  shady  copses  here, 

There  brooks  and  winding  streams  appear, 
While  change  of  objects  still  new  pleasures  yields. 

Further  fine  castles  court  the  eye  : 

There  wealth  and  honors  we  espy  ; 
Beyond,  a  huddled  mixture  fills  the  stage, 

Till  the  remoter  distance  shrouds 

The  plains  with  hills,  those  hills  with  cjouds. 
There  we  place  death  behind  old  shivering  age. 

When  death,  alas,  perhaps  too  nigh. 
In  the  next  hedge  doth  skulking  lie, 

19 


146  SURPRISE  IN  DEAl  If. 

There  plants  his  engines,  thence  lets  fly  his  darts  , 

Which  while  we  ramble  without  fear. 

Will  stop  us  in  our  full  career, 
And  force  us  from  our  airy  dreams  to  part. 

How  fond  and  vain  are  our  imaginations,  when  we 
have  seen  others  called  away  on  a  sudden  from  the  early 
scenes  of  life,  to  promise  ourselves  a  long  continuance 
here !  We  have  the  same  feeble  bodies,  the  same  tab- 
ernacles of  clay  that  others  have  ;  and  we  are  liable  to 
many  of  the  same  accidents  or  casualties.  The  same 
killing  diseases  are  at  work  in  our  natures,  and  why 
should  we  imagine  or  presume  that  others  should  go  so 
much  before  us  ? 

And  if  we  enquire  of  ourselves  as  to  character  or  merit, 
or  moral  circumstances  of  any  kind,  and  compare  our- 
selves with  those  that  are  gone  before,  what  foundation 
have  we  to  promise  ourselves  a  longer  continuance  here? 
Have  we  not  the  same  sins,  or  greater,  to  provoke  God  ? 
Are  we  more  useful  in  the  world  than  they,  and  do 
more  service  for  his  name  ?  May  not  God  summon  us 
off  the  stage  of  life  on  a  sudden,  as  well  as  others? 
What  are  we  better  than  they?  Are  we  not  as  much 
under  the  sovereign  disposal  of  the  great  God,  as  any  of 
our  acquaintance  who  have  been  seized  in  the  flower  and 
prime  of  life,  and  called  away  in  an  unexpected  hour? 
And  what  power  have  we  to  resist  the  seizure,  or  what 
promise  to  hope  that  God  will  delay  longer?  Let  us 
then  no  more  deceive  ourselves  with  vain  imaginations, - 
but  each  of  us  awake  and  bestir  ourselves,  as  though  we 
Were  the  next  persons  to  be  called  away  from  this 
assembly,  and  to  appear  next  before  the  Lord. 

Motive  4.  When  we  are  aicake,  we  are  not  only  jitter 
for  th^  coming  of  our  Lord  to  call  us  away  by  deatlu  and 
fitter  for  his  apjmarance  to  the  great  judgment ,  hut  we 
are  better  prepared  also  to  attend  him  in  every  call  to 
present  duty,  and  more  ready  to  meet  his  apjJearance  in 


SURPRISE  IN  DEATH.  14^ 

every  providence.  It  is  the  christian  soldier  who  is 
ever  awake  and  on  his  guard,  that  is  only  fit  for  every 
sudden  appointment  to  new  stations  and  services  ;  he  is 
more  prepared  for  any  post  of  danger  or  hazardous  enter- 
prise, and  better  furnished  to  sustain  the  roughest  as- 
saults. We  shall  be  less  shocked  at  sudden  afflictions 
here  on  earth,  if  our  souls  keep  heaven  in  view,  and  are 
ready  winged  for  immortality.  When  we  are  fit  to  die, 
we  are  fit  to  live  also,  and  to  do  better  service  for  God, 
in  whichsoever  of  his  worlds  he  shall  please  to  appoint 
our  station.  My  business,  O  Father,  and  my  joy,  is  to 
do  thy  will  among  the  sons  of  mortality,  or  among  the 
spirits  of  the  blest  on  high. 

Motive  5.  Let  us  remember  we  have  slept  too  long 
already  in  days  past,  and  it  is  but  a  little  while  that  tve 
are  called  to  watch.  We  have  worn  away  too  much  of 
our  life  in  sloth  and  drowsiness.  The  "  night  is  far 
spent"  with  many  of  us,  "  the  day  is  at  hand ;  it  is  now 
high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep,  for  now  is  our  salvation 
nearer  tlian  when  we  first  believed  ;"  Rom.  xiii.  11,  ±2. 
Another  hour  or  two,  and  the  night  will  be  at  end  with 
us  ;  Jesus,  the  morning  star,  is  just  appearing ;  what  ? 
Can  we  not  watch  one  hour  9  O  happy  souls,  that  keep 
themselves  awake  to  God  in  the  midst  of  this  dreaming; 
world  !  Happy  indeed,  when  our  Lord  shall  call  us  out 
of  these  dusky  regions,  and  we  shall  answer  his  call 
with  holy  joy,  and  spring  upward  to  the  inheritance  of 
the  saints  in  light !  Then  all  the  seasons  of  darkness 
and  slumbering,  will  be  finished  for  ever.  There  is  no 
need  of  laborious  watchfulness  in  that  world,  where  there 
is  no  flesh  and  blood  to  hang  heavy  upon  the  spirit ;  but 
the  sanctified  powers  of  the  soul  are  all  life  and  immor- 
tal vigor.  There  is  no  want  of  the  sun  beams  to  make 
their  day  light,  or  to  irradiate  that  city  ;  the  glory  of 
God  enlightens  it  with  divine  splendors,  and  the  Lamb 
Is  the  light  thereof.     No  inhabitant  can  sleep  under  such 


148  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

an  united  blaze  of  grace  and  glory.  No  faintings  of 
nature,  no  languors  or  weariness  are  found  in  all  that 
vital  climate ;  every  citizen  is  for  ever  awake  and  busy 
under  the  beams  of  that  glorious  day  ;  zeal,  and  love, 
and  joy,  are  the  springs  of  then*  eternal  activity :  and 
there  is  no  night  there. 


DISCOUESE  IV. 


CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND  GLORIFIED  IN 
HIS  SAINTS. 

2   THESS.    i.    10. 

• —  When  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in   his  saints,  and 
admired  in  all  them  that  believe. 

HOW  mean  and  contemptible  soever  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  might  appear  heretofore  on  earth,  yet  there 
is  a  day  coming  when  he  shall  make  a  glorious  figure  in 
the  sight  of  men  and  angels.  How  little  soever  the 
saints  may  be  esteemed  in  our  day,  and  look  poor  and 
despicable  in  an  ungodly  world,  yet  there  is  an  hour 
approaching,  wlieu  they  shall  be  glorious  beyond  all  im- 
agination ;  and  Christ  himself  shall  be  glorified  in  them. 
In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  our  Saviour  be  the  object  of 
adoration  and  wonder,  not  only  among  those  of  the  sons 
of  men  that  have  believed  on  him,  but  before  all  the  in- 
tellectual creation  ;  and  that,  upon  the  account  of  his 
grace  manifested  in  believers. 

The  natural  inquiry  that  arises  here,  is  this  ;   What 
particular  instances  of  the  grace  of  Christ  in  his  saints. 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS,  14,9 

shall  he  the  matter  of  our  admiration,  and  his  glory  in 
that  day  9 

To  this  I  shall  propose  an  answer  under  the  follow- 
ing particulars. 

First,  It  is  a  matter  of  pleasing  wonder,  that  persons 
of  all  characters  should  have  been  united  in  one  faith, 
and  persuaded  to  trust  In  the  same  Savioiu*,  and  em])race 
the  same  salvation  ;  for  some  of  all  sorts  shall  stand  in 
that  blessed  assembly.  Then  it  shall  be  a  fruitful  spring 
of  wonder  and  glory,  that  men  of  various  nations  and 
ages,  of  different  tempers,  capacities,  and  interests,  of 
contrary  educations,  and  contrary  prejudices,  should  be- 
lieve one  gospel,  and  tioist  in  one  Deliverer,  from  hell 
and  death ;  that  the  sprightly,  the  studious  and  the 
stupid,  the  wise  and  the  foolish,  should  relish  and  rejoice 
in  the  same  sublime  truths,  not  only  concerning  the  true 
God,  but  also  concerning  Jesus  the  Redeemer  ;  that  the 
barbarian  and  the  Roman,  the  Greek  and  the  Jew,  should 
approve  and  receive  the  same  doctrines  of  salvation,  that 
they  should  come  into  the  same  sentiments  in  the  matters 
of  religion,  and  live  upon  them  as  their  only  hope. 

Astonishing  spectacle  !  when  the  dark  and  savage  in- 
habitants of  Africa,  and  our  fore-fathers,  the  rugged  and 
warlike  Britons,  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  sliall  appear 
in  that  assembly,  with  some  of  the  polite  nations  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  and  each  of  them  shall  glory  in  having  been 
taught  to  renounce  the  gods  of  their  ancestors,  and  the 
demons  which  they  once  worshipped,  and  shall  rejoice 
in  Jesus,  the  King  of  Israel,  and  in  Jehovah,  the  ever- 
lasting God. 

The  conversion  of  the  Gentile  world  to  Christianity,  is 
a  matter  of  glorious  wonder,  and  shall  appear  to  be  so 
in  that  great  day.  That  those  who  had  been  educated 
to  believe  many  gods,  or  no  God  at  all,  should  renounce 
atheism  and  idolatry,  and  adore  the  true  God  only  ;  and 
those  that  were  taught  to  sacrifice  to  idols,  and  to  atone 


150  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

for  their  own  sins  W'ith  the  blood  of  beasts,  should  trust 
in  one  sacrifice,  and  the  atoning  blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Here  shall  stand  a  heliemng  atheist^  and  there  a  convert- 
ed idolater,  as  monuments  of  the  almighty  power  of  his 
grace. 

There  shall  shine  also  in  that  assembly,  here  and  there 
a  prince,  and  a  philosopher,  though  not  many  wise,  not 
many  noble,  not  many  mighty  are  called;  and  they  shall 
be  matter  of  wonder  and  glory ;  that  princes  who  love  no 
control,  should  bow  their  sceptres  and  their  souls,  to  the 
royalty  and  godhead  of  the  poor  man  of  Nazareth — That 
the  heathen  philosophers,  who  had  been  used  only  to 
yield  to  reason,  should  submit  their  understandings  to 
divine  revelation,  even  when  it  has  something  above  the 
powers  and  discoveries  of  reason  in  it. 

It  shall  raise  our  holy  wonder  too  when  we  shall  be- 
hold some  of  the  Jewish  priests  and  pharisees  who  be- 
came converts  to  the  christian  faith,  adorning  the  triumph 
of  that  day.  The  Jewish  pharisees  who  expected  a 
glorious  temporal  Prince  for  their  Messiah,  that  they 
should  at  last  own  the  son  of  a  carpenter  for  their  Teacher, 
their  Saviour,  and  their  King ;  that  they  should  veil  the 
pride  of  their  souls,  and  acknowledge  a  parcel  of  poor 
fishermen  for  his  chief  ministers  of  state,  and  receive 
them  as  ambassadors  to  the  world.  That  those  who 
thought  they  were  righteous,  and  boasted  in  it,  should 
renounce  their  boastings  and  righteousness,  and  learn 
to  expect  salvation  and  life  for  themselves,  from  the 
death  and  righteousness  of  another — That  they  who 
once  called  the  cross  of  Christ  folly  and  weakness,  should 
come  to  see  the  wisdom  and  'power  of  God  in  a  crucified 
man,  and  believe  him  who  hung  upon  a  tree  as  an  ac- 
cursed creature,  to  be  Emmanuel,  God  with  us,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesli,  and  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 

Surely  shall  men  and  angels  say  in  that  day,  '^  these 
were  the  effects  of  an  Almighty  Power,  it  was  the  work 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  151 

of  God  the  Saviour,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 
With  united  voices  shall  all  the  saints  confess,  "  flesh 
and  blood  has  not  revealed  this  unto  us,  but  the  spirit  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  God  the  Father.  We 
had  perished  in  our  folly,  but  Christ  has  been  made 
wisdom  to  us  ;  we  were  in  darkness  and  lay  under  the 
shadow  of  death,  but  Christ  has  given  us  light ;"  1  Cor. 
i.  30 ;  Ephe.  v.  14-. 

Come,  all  ye  saints  of  these  latter  ages  upon  whom  the 
end  of  the  world  is  come,  raise  your  heads  with  me  and 
look  far  backwards,  even  to  beginning  of  time  and  the 
days  of  Adam  ;  for  the  believers  of  all  ages,  as  well  as 
of  all  nations,  shall  appear  together  in  that  day,  and 
acknowledge  Jesus  the  Saviour.  According  to  the 
brighter  or  dai'ker  discoveries  of  the  age  in  which  they 
lived,  he  has  been  the  common  object  of  their  faith.  Ever 
since  he  was  called  the  seed  of  the  ivoman,  till  the  time 
of  his  appearance  in  the  flesh,  all  the  chosen  of  God  have 
lived  upon  his  gTace,  though  multitudes  of  them  never 
knew  his  name.  It  is  true,  the  greater  part  of  that  illus- 
trious company  on  the  right  hand  of  Christ,  lived  since 
the  time  of  Ms  incarnation,  (for  i\v<^  great  multitude  which 
no  man  could  number,  is  derived  from  the  Gentile  na- 
tions ;  Rev.  vii.  9.)  Yet  the  ancient  patriarchs,  with 
the  Jewish  prophets  and  saints,  shall  make  a  splendid 
appearance  there.  '^  One  hundred  and  forty  four  thou- 
sand are  sealed  among  the  tribes  of  Israel.''  These  of 
old  embraced  the  gospel  in  types  and  shadows  ;  but  now 
their  eyes  behold  Christ  Jesus  the  substance  and  the 
truth.  In  the  days  of  their  flesh  they  read  his  name  in 
dark  lines,  and  looked  through  the  long  glass  of  pro- 
phecy to  distant  ages,  and  a  Saviour  to  come,  and  now 
behold  they  find  complete  and  certain  salvation  and  glory 
in  him.  ••  These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received 
the  promises,  but  having  seen  them  afar  ofl*,  and  were 
persuaded  of  them  f  Heb.  xi.  13.     They  died  in  the 


15S  CfmiST  ADMIRED  AND 

hope  of  this  salvation,  and  they  shall  arise  in  the  blessed 
possession  of  it. 

Behold  Abraham  appearing  there,  the  Father  of  the 
faithful,  who  saw  the  day  of  Christ,  and  rejoiced  to  see 
it ;  who  trusted  in  his  Son  Jesus  two  thousand  years 
before  he  was  born.  His  elder  family,  tlie  pious  Jews, 
surround  him  there,  and  we  his  younger  children  among 
the  Gentiles,  sliall  stand  with  liim  as  the  followers  of 
his  faith,  who  trust  in  the  same  Jesus  almost  two  thou- 
sand years  after  he  is  dead.  How  shall  we  both  rejoice 
to  see  this  brightest  day  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  con- 
gratulate each  others  faith,  while  our  eyes  meet  and  cen- 
ter in  him,  and  our  souls  triumph  in  the  sight  and  love, 
and  enjoyment  of  him  in  whom  we  believed !  How  ad- 
mirable and  divinely  glorious  shall  our  Lord  himself 
appear  on  whom  every  eye  is  fixed  with  unutterable  de- 
light, in  whom  the  faith  of  distant  countries  and  ages  is 
centered  and  reconciled,  and  in  whom  all  the  nations  of 
ihe  earth  appear  to  be  blessed,  according  to  the  ancient 
word  of  promise  ;  Gen.  xv.  and  xvii. 

Secondly.  It  is  a  further  occasion  of  pleasing  wonder, 
that  so  many  wicked  obstinate  wills  of  men,  and  so  many 
perverse  affections,  should  be  bowed  down,  and  submit 
themselves  to  the  holy  rules  of  the  gospel.  This  is 
another  instance  of  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  shall  be  the 
subject  of  our  joyful  admiration.  Every  son  and  daughter 
of  Adam  by  nature  is  averse  to  God,  and  inclined  to  sin, 
a  child  of  disobedience  and  death  ;  Eph.  ii.  2.  There  is 
a  new  miracle  wrouglit  by  Christ  in  every  instance  of 
converting  grace,  and  he  shall  have  the  glory  of  them  all 
in  that  day.  It  is  a  first  resurrection  of  the  dead,  it  is  a 
new  creation,  and  the  Almighty  Power  shall  then  be 
publicly  adored. 

Then  one  shall  say,  "  I  was  a  sensual  sinner,  drench- 
ed in  liquor  and  unclean  lusts,  and  wicked  in  all  the 
forms  of  lewdness  and   intemperance.     The  grace  of 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  153 

God  my  Saviour  appeared  to  me,  and  taught  me  to  deny 
the  worldly  lusts,  which  I  once  thought  I  could  never 
have  parted  with.  I  loved  my  sins  as  my  life,  but  he  has 
persuaded  and  constrained  me  to  cut  off  a  right  hand, 
and  to  pluck  out  a  right  eye,  and  to  part  with  my  dar- 
ling vices  ;  and  behold  me  here  a  monument  of  his  saving 
mercy. 

"^  I  was  envious  against  my  neighbor,  (shall  another 
say)  and  my  temper  was  malice  and  wrath ;  revenge  was 
mingled  with  my  constitution,  and  I  thought  it  no  in- 
iquity :  but  I  bless  the  name  of  Christ  my  Redeemer, 
who  in  the  day  of  his  grace  turned  my  wrath  into  meek- 
ness ;  he  inclined  me  to  love  even  mine  enemies,  and  to 
pray  for  them  that  cursed  me ;  he  taught  me  all  this  by 
his  own  example,  and  he  made  me  learn  it  by  the  sove- 
reign influences  of  his  Spirit.  I  am  a  wonder  to  myself, 
when  I  think  what  once  I  was  ;  amazing  change,  and 
Almighty  grace !" 

Then  a  third  shall  confess,  "I  was  sl profane  wretch, 
a  swearer,  sl  blasphemer  ;  I  hoped  for  no  heaven,  and  I 
feared  no  hell ;  but  the  Lord  seized  me  in  the  midst  of 
my  rebellions,  and  sent  his  arrows  into  my  soul ;  he 
made  me  feel  the  stings  of  an  awakened  conscience,  and 
constrained  me  to  believe  there  was  a  God  and  a  hell, 
till  I  cried  out  astonished,  what  shall  I  do  to  he  saved  P 
Then  he  led  me  to  partake  of  his  own  salvation,  and 
from  a  proud  rebellious  infidel,  he  has  made  me  a  penitent 
and  a  humble  believer  ;  and  here  I  stand  to  shew  forth 
the  wonders  of  his  grace,  and  tlie  boundless  extent  of 
his  forgiveness." 

A  fourth  shall  stand  up  and  acknowledge  in  that  day, 
"  And  I  was  a  poor  carnal  covetous  creature,  who  made 
this  world  my  God,  and  abundance  of  money  was  my 
heaven  ;  but  he  cured  me  of  this  vile  idolatry  of  gold, 
taught  me  how  to  obtain  treasures  in  the  heavenly  world, 
and  to  forsake  all  on  earth,  that  I  might  have  an  inher- 


IS-^t  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AKD 

itance  there ;  and  behold  he  has  not  disappointed  my 
hope.  I  am  now  made  rich  indeed,  and  I  must  for  ever 
speak  his  praises." 

There  shall  be  no  doubt  or  dispute  in  that  day,  wheth- 
er it  was  the  power  of  our  own  will,  or  the  superior  power 
of  divine  grace,  that  wrought  the  blessed  change,  that 
turned  a  lion  into  a  lamb,  a  grovelling  earth-worm  into  a 
bird  of  paradise,  and  of  a  covetous  or  malicious  sinner, 
made  a  meek  and  a  heavenly  saint.  The  grace  of  Clirist 
shall  be  so  conspicuous  in  every  glorified  believer  in 
that  assembly,  that  with  one  voice  they  shall  all  shout  to 
the  praise  and  glory  of  his  grace  ;  JSTot  to  us,  O  Lord, 
7iot  to  MS,  but  to  thy  name  be  all  the  honor  ;  Psalm  cxv.  1 . 

Thirdly.  It  shall  be  the  matter  of  our  wonder,  and 
the  glory  of  Christ  in  that  day,  that  so  many  thousand 
guilty  wretches  should  be  made  righteous  by  one  right- 
eousness, cleansed  in  one  laver  from  all  their  iniquities, 
and  sprinkled  unto  pardon  and  sanctification,  with  the 
blood  of  one  man,  Jesus  Christ.  See  the  great  multi- 
tude that  no  man  can  number  ;  Rev.  vii.  9,  10.  They 
all  ivashed  their  robes,  and  made  them  ivhite  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb;  ver.  14. 

It  is  a  matter  of  wonder  to  us  now  on  earth,  tliat  tlie 
blessed  Son  of  God  who  is  one  with  the  Father,  should 
stoop  so  low  as  to  unite  himself  to  a  mortal  nature,  that 
he  should  become  a  poor  despicable  man,  and  pass 
through  a  life  of  suiferings  and  sorrows,  and  die  an  ac- 
cursed death,  to  redeem  us  from  guilt  and  deserved  mis- 
ery. But  when  we  shall  see  him  in  his  native  glory 
and  lustre,  his  acquired  dignities,  and  all  the  honors  of 
heaven  heaped  upon  him,  it  will  raise  our  wonder  Iiigli 
to  think  that  such  a  one  should  once  humble  himself  to 
the  death  of  the  cross,  the  death  of  the  vilest  slave,  that 
he  might  save  our  souls  from  dying  ;  that  he  should 
pour  out  his  own  blood  to  wash  off  the  stains  of  millions 
of  sins,  that  we  might  appear  righteous  before  the  God 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS,  155 

of  holiness.  Then  shall  the  multitude  of  the  saved  join 
in  that  song,  "To  him  that  loved  us,  and  vrashed  us 
from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  be  glory  and  dominion 
for  ever ;  Rev.  i.  5, 6."  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  vras 
slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  honour,  for  thou 
hast  redeemed  us  with  thy  blood  from  every  kindred, 
tribe  and  nation  ;"  Rev.  v. 

Then  shall  those  blessed  words  of  scripture  appear 
and  shine  in  full  glory,  howsoever  they  are  often  passed 
over  in  silence,  and  too  much  forgotten  in  our  age ;  Rom. 
V.  17?  19,  2i  ;  "  tf  by  one  man's  offence  death  reigned  by 
one  ;  much  more  they  which  receive  abundance  of  grace 
and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  shall  reign  in  life  by 
one,  Jesus  Christ.  For  as  by  one  man's  disobedi- 
ence many  were  made  sinners  ;  so  by  the  obedience  of 
one  shall  many  be  made  righteous.  That  as  sin  hath 
reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign  tlirough 
righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
Then  shall  our  blessed  Lord  shine  in  the  complete  lus- 
tre of  that  incommunicable  name  Jehovah  Tzidkenu, 
The  Lord  of  righteeusness  ;  Jer.  xxiii.  6. 

And  not  only  the  atonement  and  salvation  itself,  shall 
be  the  subject  of  our  glorious  admiration,  but  the  icay 
and  manner  how  sinners  partake  of  it,  shall  minister 
further  to  our  wonder,  and  to  the  glory  of  Christ.  Tiiat 
such  a  world  of  poor  miserable  creatures  should  be  sa- 
ved from  hell,  by  believing  or  trusting  in  grace,  when 
they  could  never  be  saved  by  all  their  own  works  ;  that 
they  should  obtain  righteousness  and  acceptance  unto 
eternal  life,  by  a  humble  penitence  and  poverty  of  spirit, 
depending  on  the  death  and  righteousness  of  another, 
Avhen  all  their  labor  and  toil  in  works  of  the  law,  could 
not  make  up  a  righteousness  of  their  own,  sufficient  to 
appear  before  the  justice  of  God  ;  Christ  will  not  only 
be  gloriiied  in  their  holiness  as  saints,  hut  admired  and 
honored  in  and  by  their  faith  as  believers.     His  blood 


156  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

and  his  grace  shall  share  all  the  glory.  Therefore  it  is 
of  faith,  and  not  of  works  that  it  might  be  of  grace  ;  Rom. 
iv.  15.  Yet  this  saving  faith  is  the  spring  of  shining 
holiness  in  every  believer.  Duties  and  virtues  are  not 
left  out  of  our  religion,  when  faith  is  brought  into  it. 
The  graces  of  the  saints  join  happily  with  the  atonement 
of  Christ,  to  render  that  day  more  illustrious. 

Fourthly.  That  a  company  of  such  feeble  christians, 
should  maintain  their  course  towards  heaven,  through  so 
many  thousand  obstacles.  This  shall  be  another  sub- 
ject of  admiration,  and  yield  a  further  revenue  of  glory 
to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  he  who  is  their  righteous- 
ness is  their  strength  also ;  Isaiah  xlv.  24,  25.  In  the 
Lord  shall  all  the  seed  of  Israel  glory  in  that  day,  as 
their  strength  and  their  salvation.  They  have  broke 
through  all  their  difficulties,  and  were  able  to  do  all 
things  through  Christ  strengthening  them;  Phil.  iv.  13. 

Behold  that  noble  army  w  ith  palms  in  their  hands  ; 
once  they  were  weak  warriors,  yet  they  overcame  mighty 
enemies,  and  have  gained  the  victory  and  the  prize ; 
enemies  rising  from  earth,  and  from  hell,  to  tempt  and 
to  accuse  them,  but  they  overcome  by  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb;  Rev.  xii,  7?  H*  What  a  divine  honor  shall  it 
be  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  captain  of  our  salvation, 
that  weak  christians  should  subdue  their  strong  corrup- 
tions, and  get  safe  to  heaven  through  a  thousand  oppo- 
sitions within  and  without.  It  is  all  owing  to  the  grace 
of  Christ  whicli  is  all-sufficient  for  every  saint.  2  Cor. 
xii.  9.  Tiiey  are  made  more  than  conquerors  through 
him  that  has  loved  them  ;  Rom.  viii.  38. 

Then  shall  the  faith,  and  courage,  and  patience  of 
the  saints,  have  a  blessed  review  ;  and  it  shall  be  told 
before  the  whole  creation  what  strife  and  wrestlings  a 
poor  believer  has  passed  tlu'ough  in  a  dark  cottage,  a 
chamber  of  long  sickness,  or  perhaps  in  a  dungeon ;  how 
he  has  there  combatted  with  powers  of  darkness,  how 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  1^7 

he  has  struggled  with  huge  sorrows,  and  has  home  and 
has  not  fainted,  though  he  has  been  often  in  heaviness 
through  manifold  temptations.  Then  shall  appear  the 
bright  scene  which  St.  Peter  represents  as  the  event  of 
sore  trials  ;  1  Peter,  i.  6,  7.  When  our  faith  has  been 
tried  in  the  fire  of  tribulation,  and  is  found  more  pre- 
cious than  gold,  it  sliall  shine  to  the  praise,  honor,  and 
glory,  of  the  suffering  saints,  and  of  Christ  himself  at 
his  appearance. 

Behold  that  illustrious  troop  of  martyrs,  and  some 
among  them  of  the  feeblest  sex  and  of  tender  age  ;  now 
that  women  should  grow  bold  in  faitli,  even  in  the  sight 
of  torments,  and  children,  with  a  manly  courage,  should 
profess  the  name  of  Christ  in  the  face  of  angry  and 
threatening  rulers  ;  that  some  of  these  should  become 
undaunted  confessors  of  the  trutli,  and  others  triumph 
in  fire  and  torture ;  these  things  shall  be  matter  of  glory 
to  Christ  in  that  day  ;  it  was  his  power  that  gave  them 
courage  and  victory  in  martyrdom  and  death.  Every 
christian  there,  every  soldier  in  that  triumphing  army, 
shall  ascribe  his  conquest  to  tlie  grace  of  his  Lord,  his 
leader,  and  lay  down  all  their  trophies  at  the  feet  of  his 
Saviour,  with  humble  acknowledgments  and  shouts  of 
honor. 

Almost  all  the  saved  number  were,  at  some  part  of 
their  lives,  weak  in  faith,  and  yet,  by  the  grace  of  Christ 
they  held  out  to  the  end,  and  are  crowned.  ^^  I  wa* 
a  poor  trembling  creature,  shall  one  say,  but  I  was 
confirmed  in  my  faith  and  holiness  by  the  gospel  of 
Christ ;  or  I  rested  on  a  naked  promise  and  found  sup- 
port, because  Christ  was  there,  and  he  shall  have  the 
glory  of  it.^'  In  him  are  all  the  promises,  yea,  and  in 
him  amen,  to  the  glory  of  the  Father  ;  2  Cor.  1.  SO,  2i, 
22.  And  the  Son  shall  share  in  this  glory,  for  he  died 
to  ratify  these  promises,  and  he  lives  to  fulfil  them. 

^^Oh  what  an  almighty  arm  is  this  (shall  the  believer 


158  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

say)  that  has  borne  up  so  many  thousands  of  poor  sink- 
ing creatures,  and  lifted  their  heads  above  the  waves  !'' 
The  spark  of  grace  that  lived  many  years  in  a  flood  of 
temptations,  and  was  not  quenched,  shall  then  shine 
bright  to  the  glory  of  Christ  who  kindled  and  maintain- 
ed it.  When  we  have  been  brought  through  all  the 
storms  and  the  threatening  seas,  and  yet  the  raging  waves 
have  been  forbid  to  swallow  us  up,  we  shall  cry  out  in 
raptures  of  joy  and  wonder,  ^^  What  manner  of  man  is 
this,  that  the  winds  and  the  seas  have  obeyed  him  ?" 

Then  shall  it  be  gloriously  evident,  that  he  has  con- 
quered Satan,  and  kept  the  hosts  of  hell  in  chains,  when 
it  shall  appear  that  he  has  made  poor  mean  trembling 
believers  victorious  over  all  the  powers  of  darkness,  for 
the  Prince  of  peace  has  hridsed  him  under  their  feet. 

Fifthly.  There  is  more  work  for  our  wonder  and  joy, 
and  more  glory  for  our  blessed  Lord,  when  we  shall  see 
that  so  many  dark  and  dreadful  providences  were  work- 
ing together  in  mercy,  for  the  good  of  the  saints  ;  it  is 
because  Jesus  Christ  had  the  management  of  them  all 
put  in  his  hand  ;  and  we  shall  acknowledge  he  has  done 
all  things  well  ;  Rom.  viii.  28.  All  things  have  wrought 
together  for  good.  It  is  the  voice  of  Christ  to  every 
saint  in  sorrow,  ivhat  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now,  hut 
thou  shall  know  hereafter  ;  John  xii.  7«  I  saw  not  then 
saith  the  christian,  that  my  Lord  was  curing  my  pride, 
by  such  a  threatening  and  abasing  providence,  thai  lie 
was  weaning  my  heart  from  sensual  delights,  by  such  a 
sharp  and  painful  wound  ;  but  now  I  behold  things  in 
another  light,  and  give  thanks  and  praises  to  my  Divine 
Physician. 

We  shall  look  back  upon  the  hours  of  our  impatience 
and  be  ashamed  ;  we  shall  chide  the  flesh  for  its  old  re- 
pinings,  when  we  shall  stand  upon  the  eternal  hills  of 
paradise,  and  cast  our  eyes  back  upon  yonder  transact- 
ions of  time,  those  past  ages  of  complaint  and  infirmity. 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  159 

We  shall  then,  with  pleasure  and  thankfulness,  confess, 
that  the  captain  of  our  salvation  was  much  in  the  right 
to  lead  us  through  so  many  sufferings  and  sorrows,  and 
we  were  much  in  the  wrong  to  complain  of  his  conduct. 

Bear  up  your  spirits  then,  ye  poor  afflicted  distressed 
souls,  who  are  wrestling  through  difficult  providences 
all  in  the  dark.  Bear  up  but  a  little  longer,  he  that  shall 
come,  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry  ;  he  will  set  all  his 
conduct  in  a  fair  light,  and  you  shall  say,  "Blessed  be 
the  Lord,  and  all  his  government.'' 

Sixthly.  That  heaven  should  he  so  well  filled  out  of 
such  a  hell  of  sin  and  misery  as  this  world  is,  shall  be 
another  delightful  reflection  full  of  wonder  and  glory. 
Take  a  short  survey  of  mankind,  how  all  flesh  has  cor- 
rupted its  icays  before  God,  and  every  imagination  of 
the  thought  of  man's  heart  is  only  evil,  and  that  continu- 
ally ;  there  is  none  righteous,  no  not  one.  Look  round 
about  you  and  see  how  iniquity  abounds,  violence,  op- 
pression, pride,  lust,  sensualities  of  all  kinds,  how  they 
reign  among  the  children  of  men.  Religion  is  lost,  and 
God  forgotten  in  the  world ;  and  yet,  out  of  this  wretch- 
ed world  Christ  has  provided  inhabitants  for  heaven, 
where  nothing  can  enter  that  defileth.  Look  into  your 
own  hearts,  ye  sinners,  see  what  a  hell  lies  there  ;  and 
ye  converts  of  the  grace  of  Christ,  look  into  your  hearts 
too,  and  see  how  many  of  the  seeds  of  wickedness  still 
lie  hid  there  ;  how  much  corruption,  and  how  little  ho- 
liness ;  look  inward,  and  wonder  that  Christ  should 
ever  fit  you  for  heaven,  by  his  converting  and  his  sanc- 
tifying grace. 

Look  round  the  world  again,  and  survey  the  miseries 
of  this  earth  ;  as  many  calamities  as  there  are  creatures, 
and  perhaps  ten  times  more.  Who  is  there  on  earth 
without  his  sorrows  ?  And  sometimes  a  multitude  of 
them  meet  in  one  single  sufferer.  See  how  toil,  and 
weariness,  and  disappointment,  poverty  and   sickness. 


160  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

pain,  anguish,  and  vexation,  are  distributed  through 
this  world,  that  lies  on  the  borders  of  hell.  See  all 
this,  and  wonder  at  the  grace  of  Christ,  that  has  taken 
a  colony  out  of  this  miserable  world,  and  made  a 
heaven  of  it. 

We  shall,  many  of  us,  be  a  wonder  to  each  other  as 
well  as  to  ourselves  ;  and  we  shall  all  review  and  ad- 
mire the  grace  of  Christ  in  and  towards  us  all.  Among 
the  rest,  there  are  two  sorts  of  christians  whose  salvation 
shall  be  a  special  matter  of  wonder  ;  and  these  are  the 
melancJioly  and  the  uncharitable.  The  melancholy 
christian  shall  wonder  that  ever  such  a  sinner  as  him- 
self was  brought  to  heaven ;  and  the  uncharitable  shall 
wonder  how  such  a  sinner  as  his  neighbor  came  there. 
The  poor,  doubting,  melancholy  soul,  who  was  full  of 
fears  lest  he  should  be  condemned,  shall  then  have  full 
assurance  that  he  is  elected  and  redeemed,  pardoned 
and  saved,  when  he  sees,  hears,  and  feels  the  salvation 
and  the  glory  upon  him,  within  him,  and  all  around  him  ; 
and  he  shall  admire  and  adore  the  grace  of  God  his 
Saviour.  The  narrow  souled  christian,  wlio  said  his 
neighbor  would  be  damned  for  want  of  some  party  no- 
tions, or  for  some  less  failings,  shall  confess  his  unchar- 
itable mistake,  and  shall  wonder  at  the  abounding  mercy 
of  Christ,  which  has  pardoned  those  errors  in  his 
neighbor,  for  which  he  had  excommunicated  and  con- 
demned him.  Both  these  christians  in  that  day,  I  mean 
the  timorous  and  the  censorious,  shall  stand  at  his  right 
hand,  as  monuments  of  his  surprising  grace,  who  forgave 
one  the  defects  of  his  faith,  and  the  other  his  want  of 
love ;  and  their  souls  and  their  tongues  shall  join 
together  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord ;  and  their  spirits  shall 
magnify  tlieir  God  and  Redeemer.  Christ  shall  have 
his  due  revenue  of  glory  from  both,  in  the  hour  of  their 
public  salvation. 

O  what  honor  shall  it  add  to  the  overflowing  mercy 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  l6l 

of  Christ !  what  joy  and  wonder  to  all  the  saints,  to  see 
Paul,  the  persecutor  and  blasphemer  there,  and  Peter, 
who  denied  the  Lord  that  bought  him,  and  Mary  Mag- 
dalene, that  impure  sinner.  See  what  a  foul  and  shame- 
ful catalogue,  what  children  of  iniquity  are  at  last  made 
heirs  and  possessors  of  heaven ;  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10,  11  5 
the  fornicators  and  idolaters ^  the  thieves  and  the  cov- 
etouSy  the  drunkards,  the  revilers,  and  the  extortioners. 
Such  they  were  in  the  days  of  ignorance  and  heathenism, 
fit  fuel  for  the  fire  of  hell :  and  in  those  circumstances, 
they  are  utterly  excluded  from  the  kingdom  of  God  ; 
but  now  they  find  a  place  in  that  blessed  assembly ;  and 
the  converting  grace  of  Christ  is  admired  and  glorified, 
that  could  turn  such  sinners  into  saints.  O  surprising 
scene  of  rich  salvation,  when  these  Corinthian  converts, 
washed  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  renewed  by  his 
Spirit,  shall  appear  in  their  white  garments  of  holiness 
and  glory  !  There  is  not  one  sinful  creature  to  be  found 
in  all  the  vast  retinue  of  the  holy  Jesus.  But  there  are 
thousands  who  have  been  once  great  criminals,  notorious 
sinners,  and  have  been  snatched  by  the  arm  of  divine 
love,  as  brands  out  of  the  burning.  What  an  affecting 
sight  will  it  be,  when  we  shall  behold  all  the  members 
of  Christ  united  to  their  Head,  and  complete  in  glory, 
and  see  at  the  same  time,  a  world  of  vile  sinners  doomed 
to  destruction  !  With  what  adoration  and  wonder 
shall  we  cry  out,  and  such  were  some  of  these  happy 
ones  ;  but  they  are  sanctified,  but  they  are  justified  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God; 
verse  11.  JSTot  unto  us,  0  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  to 
God  our  Saviour,  be  eternal  honor. 

In  the  seventh  place.  There  is  another  glory  and 
wonder  added  to  this  illustrious  scene,  and  gives  honor 
to  our  blessed  Saviour  ;  and  that  is,  that  so  many  vig- 
orous, beautiful,  and  immortal  bodies,  should  be  raised 
at  once  out  of  the  dust,  with  all  their  old  infirmities  left 
31 


163  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

behind  them.  Not  one  ache  or  pain,  not  one  weakness 
or  disease,  among  all  the  glorified  millions.  As  the 
Israelites  came  out  of  their  bondage  in  Egypt,  so  shall 
the  army  of  saints  from  the  prison  of  the  grave,  and  not 
one  feeble  among  them;  Psalm  cv.  37.  This  is  the 
work  of  Christ,  the  Creator  and  the  Healer. 

Here  I  might  run  many  sorrowful  divisions,  and 
travel  over  the  large  and  thorny  field  of  sickness  and 
pains,  that  attend  human  nature,  those  inborn  mischiefs 
that  vex  poor  christians  in  this  state  of  trial  and  suffer- 
ing. But  these  were  all  buried  when  the  body  went  to 
the  grave,  and  they  are  buried  for  ever ;  he  that  has  the 
keys  of  death,  shall  let  the  bodies  of  his  saints  out  of 
prison  ,  but  no  gout  nor  stone,  no  infirmity  nor  distem- 
per, no  head-ache  nor  heart-ache,  shall  ever  attend  them. 
The  body  was  soicn  in  iceakness,  but  it  is  raised  in 
'power  ;  it  was  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory, 
through  the  power  of  the  second  Adam  and  his  quicken- 
ing Spirit ;  1  Cor.  xv.  43,  45  ;  Rom.  viii.  11. 

Then  shall  Christ  appear  to  be  Sovereign  and  Lord 
of  death,  when  such  an  endless  multitude  of  old  and  new 
captives  are  released  at  his  word,  and  the  grave  has 
restored  its  prey ;  when  those  bodies  which  have  been 
turned  into  dust  some  thousands  of  years,  and  their  arms 
scattered  abroad  by  the  winds  of  heaven,  shall  be  raised 
again  in  glory  and  dignity,  to  meet  their  descending 
Lord  in  the  air.  Surely  Jesus  in  that  day  shall  be  ac- 
knowledged as  a  Sovereign  of  nature,  when  at  the  word 
of  his  command,  a  new  creation  shall  arise,  all  perfect 
and  immortal. 

It  will  add  yet  further  glory  to  Christ,  when  we  re- 
member wliat  fruitful  seeds  of  iniquity  were  lodged  in 
that  flesh  and  blood,  which  we  wore  on  eartli,  and  Avhich 
we  laid  down  in  the  tomb  ;  and  when,  at  the  same  time, 
we  survey  our  glorified  bodies,  hov/  spiritual,  how  holy, 
how  happily  fitted  for  the  service  of  glorified  souls  made 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS,  163 

perfect  in  holiness.  How  did  all  the  saints  once  com- 
plain of  a  law  in  their  memhers,  that  warred  against 
the  law  of  their  minds,  and  brought  them  into  bondage  to 
the  law  of  sin  ?  but  this  law  of  sin  is  now  for  ever  abol- 
ished, this  bondage  dissolved  and  broken,  and  these 
members  are  all  new-created,  for  instruments  of  right- 
eousness to  serve  God  in  his  temple  for  ever  and  ever. 
Holy  Paul  shall  no  more  groan  in  a  sinful  tabernacle, 
he  shall  no  more  complain  of  ihsii  flesh  wherein  no  good 
dwelt,  he  shall  cry  out  no  more,  "  O  wretched  man  that 
I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  ?" 

Many  and  bitter  have  been  the  sorrows  of  a  holy  soul 
in  this  world,  because  of  the  perverse  dispositions  of 
animal  nature  and  the  flesh  ;  but  none  of  the  saints  in 
that  assembly  shall  ever  feel  again  the  stings  of  inward 
envy,  the  pricking  thorns  of  peevishness,  nor  the  wild 
ferments  of  wrath  and  passion  ;  none  of  them  shall  ever 
find  those  unruly  appetites  which  wrought  so  strongly 
in  their  old  flesh  and  blood,  and  too  often  overpowered 
their  unwilling  souls,  those  apjjetites  which  brought  their 
consciences  sometimes  under  fresh  guilt,  and  filled  them 
with  inward  reproaches  and  agonies  of  spirit.  These 
evil  principles  are  all  destroyed  by  death  ;  they  are  lost 
in  the  grave,  and  shall  have  no  resurrection.  The  new 
raised  bodies  of  the  righteous  in  that  day,  shall  be  com- 
pletely obedient  to  the  dictates  of  their  spirits,  without 
any  vicious  juices  to  make  reluctance,  or  perverse 
humors  to  raise  an  inward  rebellion.  And  not  only  so, 
but  perhaps  even  our  bodies  shall  have  some  active, 
holy  tendencies,  wrought  in  them,  so  far  as  corporeal 
nature  can  administer  toward  the  sacred  exercises  of  a 
glorified  saint.  A  sweet  and  blessed  change  indeed ! 
And  Jesus,  who  raised  these  bodies  in  this  beauty  of 
holiness,  shall  receive  the  glory  of  this  divine  work. 

The   last  instance  I  shall  mention,  wherein  Christ 
shall  be  admired  in  his  saints,  is   this  j  they  shall  all 


164)  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

appear  in  that  day,  as  so  many  images  of  his  'person, 
and  as  so  many  monuments  of  the  success  of  his  qfjice. 

Is  the  blessed  Jesus  a  great  Prophet  and  the  Teacher 
of  his  church  ?  These  are  the  persons  that  have  learnt 
his  divine  doctrine ;  they  have  heard  the  joyful  sound  of 
his  gospel ;  and  the  holy  truths  of  it  are  copied  out  in 
their  hearts.  These  are  the  disciples  of  his  school ;  and 
by  his  word,  and  by  his  spirit,  they  have  been  taught  to 
know  God  and  their  Saviour ;  and  they  have  been 
trained  up  in  the  way  to  eternal  life. 

Is  Jesus  a  great  High  Priest,  both  of  sacrifice  and  in- 
tercession ?  Behold  all  these  souls,  an  endless  number, 
purified  from  their  defilements  by  the  blood  of  his  cross, 
washed  and  made  white  in  that  blessed  laver,  and  recon- 
ciled to  God  by  his  atoning  sacrifice.  Behold  the 
power  of  his  intercession,  in  securing  millions  from  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  in  procuring  for  them  every  divine 
blessing.  He  has  obtained  for  each  of  them  grace  and 
glory. 

Is  Jesus  the  Lord  of  all  things,  and  the  King  of  his 
church?  Behold  his  subjects  waiting  on  him,  a  numer- 
ous and  a  loyal  multitude,  who  have  the  laws  of  their 
King  engraven  on  their  souls.  These  are  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Adam,  whom  he  has  rescued  by  his  power 
from  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  and  the  hands  of  the 
devil.  He  has  guarded  them  from  the  rage  of  their 
malicious  adversaries  in  earth  and  hell,  and  brought 
them  safe  through  all  difficulties,  to  behold  the  glories 
of  this  day,  and  to  celebrate  the  honors  of  their  King. 

Is  he  the  Captain  of  salvation  f  See  what  a  blessed 
army  he  has  listed  under  his  banner  of  love  :  and  they 
have  followed  him  through  all  the  dangers  of  life  and 
time  under  his  conduct.  These  are  the  chosen,  the 
called,  the  faithful.  They  have  sustained  many  a  sharp 
conflict,  many  a  dreadful  battle  ;  and  they  are  at  last, 
made  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  has  loved 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  l65 

them.  They  attribute  all  their  victories  to  the  wisdom, 
the  goodness,  and  the  power  of  their  divine  Leader ; 
and  even  stand  amazed  at  their  own  success,  against 
such  mighty  adversaries.  But  they  fought  under  the 
banner,  conduct,  and  influence  of  the  Prince  of  life,  the 
King  of  righteousness,  who  is  always  victorious,  and 
has  a  crown  in  his  hand  for  every  conqueror. 

Is  Jesus  the  great  example  of  his  sai7its  P  Behold  the 
virtues  and  graces  of  the  Son  of  God,  copied  out  in  all 
his  followers.  Jls  he  was,  so  were  they  in  this  world, 
holy,  harmless,  and  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners. 
As  he  now  is,  so  are  they ;  glorious  in  holiness,  and 
divinely  beautiful,  while  each  of  them  reflects  the  image 
of  their  blessed  Lord,  and  they  appear  as  wonders  to  ail 
the  beholding  world.  They  were  unknown  here  on  earth, 
even  as  Christ  himself  was  unknown.  This  is  the  day 
appointed  to  reveal  their  works  and  their  graces.  Jesus 
is  the  brightness  of  his  Father^s  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person  ;  and  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
God  shall  then  appear  as  so  many  pictures  of  the  blessed 
Jesus,  drawn  by  the  finger  of  tlie  eternal  Spirit. 

And  not  their  souls  only,  but  their  glorified  bodies 
also  are  framed  in  his  likeness.  What  grace  and 
grandeur  dwell  in  each  countenance;  as  thou  art,  O 
blessed  Jesus,  so  shall  they  be  in  that  day,  all  of  them 
resembling  the  children  of  a  king  !  Vigor  and  health, 
beauty  and  immortality,  shine  and  reign  throughout  all 
that  blessed  assembly.  The  adopted  sons  and  daughters 
of  God,  resemble  the  original  and  only  begotten  Son. 
Christ  will  have  all  his  brethren  and  sisters  conformed 
unto  his  glories,  that  they  may  be  known  to  be  his 
kindred,  the  children  of  his  Father,  and  that  he  may  ap- 
pear the  first  born  among  many  brethren.  When  the 
Son  of  God  breaks  open  the  graves,  he  forms  the  dust  of 
his  saints  by  the  model  of  his  own  glorious  aspect  and 
figure;  and  changes  their  vile  bodies  into  the  likeness  of 


166  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

his  own  glorious  body,  by  that  power  tvher^hy  he  is  able 
to  subdue  all  things  to  himself;  Phil.  iii.  ult.  He  shall 
be  admired  as  the  bright  original,  and  each  of  the  saints 
as  a  fair  and  glorious  copy.  The  various  beauties  that 
are  dispersed  among  all  that  assembly,  are  summed  up 
and  united  in  liimself ;  he  is  the  chiefest  often  thousands, 
and  altogether  lovely.  One  sun  in  the  firmament  can 
paint  his  own  bright  image  at  once^  upon  a  thousand 
reflecting  glasses  or  mirrors  of  gold.  What  a  dazzling 
lustre  would  arise  from  such  a  scene  of  reflections  !  But 
what  superior  and  inexpressible  glory,  above  all  the 
powers  of  similitude,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  compar- 
ison, shall  irradiate  the  world  in  that  day,  when  Jesus 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  shall  shine  upon  all  his  saints, 
and  find  each  of  them  well  prepared  to  receive  this  lustre, 
and  to  reflect  it  round  the  creation  ;  each  of  them  dis- 
playing the  image  of  the  original  Son  of  God,  and  con- 
fessing all  their  virtues  and  graces,  all  their  beauties 
and  glories,  both  of  soul  and  body,  to  be  nothing  else 
but  mere  copies  and  derivations  from  Jesus,  the  first  and 
fairest  image  of  tiie  Father  I 

'USE. 

The  doctrines  and  the  works  of  divine  grace  are  full 
of  wonder  and  glory.  Such  is  the  person  and  offices  of 
Christ,  such  are  his  holy  and  faithful  followers,  and  such 
eminently  will  be  the  blessed  scene  at  his  appearance. 
In  the  foregoing  part  of  the  discourse,  we  have  briefly 
surveyed  some  of  those  glorious  wonders;  we  now  come 
to  consider  what  use  may  be  made  of  such  a  theme. 

Use  I.  It  gives  us  eminently  these  two  lessons  of  in- 
struction. 

Lesson  1.  How  mistaken  is  the  judgment  of  flesh  and 
sense,  in  the  things  that  relate  to  Christ  and  his  saints. 
The  Son  of  Grod  himself  was  abused  and  scorned  by 
the  blind  world,  they  esteemed  him  as  one  smitten  of 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  167 

God  and  unheloved,  and  tJiey  saiv  no  beauty  nor  comeli- 
ness in  him  ;  Isaiah  liii.  33.  He  was  poor  and  despis- 
ed all  his  life,  and  he  was  doomed  to  the  death  of  a 
criminal  and  a  slave.  As  for  the  saints,  they  find  no 
more  honor  or  esteem  among  men  than  their  Lord,  they 
are  many  times  called  and  coi\ntQ,(\.  the  filth  of  the  world, 
and  the  off-scouring  of  all  things ;  1  Cor.  iv,  13.  This 
is  the  judgment  of  flesh  and  sense. 

But  when  the  great  appointed  hour  is  come,  and  Je- 
sus shall  return  from  heaven  with  a  shout  of  the  arch- 
angel and  the  trump  of  God,  when  he  shall  call  up  his 
saints  from  their  bed  of  dust  and  darkness,  and  make 
the  graves  resign  those  prisoners  of  hope, when  they  shall 
all  gather  together  around  their  Lord,  a  bright  and  nu- 
merous army,  shining  and  reflecting  the  splendors  of  his 
presence,  how  will  the  judgment  of  flesh  and  sense  be 
confounded  at  once,  and  reversed  with  shame  !  "  Is  tliis 
the  man  that  was  loaded  with  scandal,  that  was  buftetted 
with  scorn,  and  scourged  and  crucified  in  the  land  of 
Judea?  Is  this  the  person  that  hung  on  the  cursed 
tree,  and  expired  under  agonies  of  pain  and  sorrow  ? 
Amazing  sight  !  How  majestic,  how  divine  his  ap- 
pearance  !  The  Son  of  God,  and  the  King  of  Glory ! 
And  are  these  the  men  that  were  made  the  mockery  of 
the  world  ?  That  wandered  about  in  sheep-skins,  and 
goat-skins,  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth  ?  Surprising 
appearance  !  How  illustrious  !  How  full  of  glory  !" 
O  that  such  a  meditation  might  awaken  us  to  judge  more 
by  faith. 

Lesson  2.  The  next  lesson  that  we  may  derive  from 
the  text  is  this,  viz.  One  great  design  of  the  day  of 
judgment,  is  to  advance  and  publish  the  glory  of  Christ. 
He  shall  cofne  on  purpose  to  be  glorified  in  his  saints  ; 
the  whole  creation  was  made  by  him  and  for  him ;  tlie 
transactions  of  providence,  grace  and  justice,  are  man- 
aged for  his  honor  ;  and  the  joyful  and  terrible  affairs 


168  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

of  the  day  of  judgment,  are  designed  to  display  the 
majesty  and  the  power  of  Jesus  the  King,  the  wisdom 
and  equity  of  Jesus  the  Judge,  and  the  grace  and  truth 
of  Jesus  the  Saviour.  I  will  grant  indeed,  that  the 
appointment  of  this  day  is  partly  intended  for  the  glory 
of  Christ,  in  the  just  destruction  of  the  impenitent^  for  he 
will  be  glorified  in  pouring  out  the  vengeance  of  his 
Father  upon  rebellious  sinners.  "  The  Lord  Jesus  shall 
be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels  in 
flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not 
God,  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power,"  ver,  7?  8,  9 ;  before  my  text.  But  his  sweet- 
est and  most  valuable  revenue  of  glory  arises  from 
among  his  saints. 

If  the  messengers  of  the  churches  are  called  the  glory 
of  Christ,  with  all  the  weaknesses,  and  sins,  and  fol- 
lies that  attend  the  best  of  them  here,  as  in  2  Cor.  viii. 
23,  much  more  shall  be  his  glory  hereafter,  when  they 
shall  have  no  spot  nor  blemish  found  upon  them,  and 
the  work  of  Christ  upon  their  souls  has  formed  and  fin- 
ished them,  in  the  perfect  beauty  of  holiness.  The 
saints  shall  reflect  glory  on  each  other,  and  all  of  them 
cast  supreme  lustre  on  Christ  their  head.  The  people 
shall  be  the  crown  and  glory  of  the  minister  in  that  day, 
and  the  minister  shall  be  the  joy  and  glory  of  the  people ; 
and  both  shall  be  the  crown,  joy  and  glory  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  1  Thess.  ii.  19,  20;  2  Cor.  i.  14;  2Thess. 
i.  12 ;  He  shall  appear  high  on  a  throne  in  the  midst 
of  that  bright  assembly,  and  say,  "  Father,  these  are 
the  sheep  that  thou  hast  given  me,  in  the  counsels  of 
thine  eternal  love  ;  all  these  have  I  ransomed  from  hell 
at  the  price  of  my  own  blood ;  these  have  I  rescued  by 
my  grace,  from  the  dominion  of  sin  and  the  devil ;  I 
have  formed  them  unto  holiness,  and  fitted  them  for 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  169 

heaven  ;  I  have  kept  them  by  my  power  through  all  the 
dangers  of  their  mortal  state,  and  have  brought  them 
safe  to  thy  celestial  kingdom.  Ml  thine  are  minef  and 
all  mine  are  thine  ;  1  was  glorified  in  them  on  earth. 
John  xvii.  10  ;  and  they  are  now  my  everlasting  crown 
and  glory." 

Then  shall  the  unknown  worlds  that  never  fell, 
worlds  of  angels  and  innocent  creatures,  and  the  world 
of  guilty  devils  and  condemned  rebels,  stand  and  won- 
der together,  at  the  recovery  and  salvation  Christ  has 
provided  for  the  fallen  sons  of  Adam.  They  shall  stand 
amazed  to  see  the  millions  of  apostate  creatures,  the 
iniiabitants  of  this  earthly  globe,  recovered  to  their  duty 
and  allegiance  by  the  Son  of  Grod,  going  down  to  dwell 
amongst  them  ;  millions  of  impure  and  deformed  souls 
restored  to  the  divine  image,  and  made  beautiful  as 
angels,  by  the  grace  and  Spirit  of  our  Lord  Jesus. 
Those  spectators  shall  be  filled  with  admiration  and 
transport,  to  see  such  a  multitude  of  criminals  pardoned 
and  justified  for  the  sake  of  a  righteousness,  which  they 
themselves  never  wrought,  and  accepted  as  righteous  in 
the  sight  of  God,  by  a  covenant  of  grace,  unknown  to 
other  worlds,  and  by  faith  in  the  great  Mediator.  They 
shall  wonder  to  see  such  an  innumerable  company  of 
polluted  wretches  washed  from  their  sins,  in  so  precious 
a  laver  as  the  blood  of  Gcd's  own  Son.  And  he  that 
hung  upon  the  cross  as  a  spectacle  of  wretchedness  at 
Jerusalem,  shall  entertain  the  superior  and  inferior 
worlds  with  the  sight  of  his  adorable  and  divine  glories, 
and  the  spoils  he  has  brought  from  the  regions  of  death 
and  hell.  Thus  to  the  principalities  ar.d  powers  in 
heavenly  places^  shall  be  made  known  hy  the  church  tri- 
umphant, the  manifold  wisdom.,  and  the  manifold  grace 
of  God  the  Father,  and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ ;  Eph.  iii.  10. 

But  tremble,  O  ye  obstinate  and  impenitent  wretches, 
ye  sensual  sinners,  ye  infidels  of  a  christian  name  and 
S3 


170  eHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

nation,  Christ  will  be  glorified  in  you  one  way  or 
another.  If  your  hearts  are  not  bowed  and  melted  to 
receive  his  gospel,  you  shall  be  jnmished  with  everlast- 
ing destruction  among  those  that  know  not  God,  and 
obey  not  the  gospel  of  his  Son. 

Tremble,  ye  sensual  and  ye  profane  sons  of  iniquity, 
when  ye  remember  this  day,  when  ye  shall  see  the  holy 
souls  that  ye  scorned,  with  crowns  on  their  heads,  and 
palms  in  their  hands,  with  the  shout  of  victory,  and  joy 
on  their  tongues,  and  the  God-man  whom  ye  despised, 
and  whose  grace  ye  neglected,  shining  at  the  head  of 
that  bright  assembly. 

Tremble,  ye  infidels,  ye  despisers  of  the  name  of  a 
crucified  Christ ;  behold  his  cross  is  become  a  throne, 
and  his  crown  of  thorns  a  crown  of  glory.  See  the  man 
w  hom  ye  have  scorned  and  reproached,  at  the  head  of 
millions  of  angels,  and  adored  by  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  saints,  while  wicketl  princes  and  captains, 
armies  and  nations  of  sinners,  wait  their  doom  from  his 
mouth,  nor  dare  hope  for  a  word  of  his  mercy.  O  make 
haste,  and  come  and  be  reconciled  to  him,  and  to  God  by 
him,  that  ye  may  belong  to  that  blessed  assembly,  tliat 
ye  may  bear  a  part  in  the  triumphs  of  that  day,  and 
that  Christ  may  be  glorified  in  your  recovery  from  the 
very  borders  of  damnation. 

This  thought  leads  me  to  the  next  use. 

II.  This  discourse  gives  rich  encouragement  to  the 
greatest  sinners  to  hope  for  mercy ,  and  to  the  weakest 
saints  to  hope  for  victory  and  salvation.  Such  sort  of 
subjects  of  the  grace  of  Christ,  shall  yield  him  some  of 
the  brightest  rays  of  glory  at  the  last  day.  Yet,  siiuiers, 
let  me  charge  you  here,  never  to  hope  for  this  happiness 
without  solemn  repentance,  and  an  entire  change  of  heart 
unto  holiness  ;  for  an  indioly  soul  would  be  a  fearful 
blemish  in  tliat  assembly,  and  a  disgi'ace  to  our  Lord 
Jesus.     Christians;  I  would  charge   you  also,  never  to 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  I7I 

hope  for  the  happiness  of  this  day,  without  battle  and 
conquest,  for  all  the  members  of  that  assembly  must  be 
overcomers.  But  where  there  is  a  hearty  desire  and 
longing  after  grace  and  salvation,  let  not  the  worst  of 
sinners  despair,  nor  the  weakest  believer  let  go  his  hope ; 
for  it  is  such  as  you  and  I  are,  in  whom  Christ  will  be 
magnified  in  that  day. 

Believe  this,  O  thou  humbled  and  convinced  sinner, 
who  complainest  thy  heart  is  hard,  though  tliou  wouldest 
fain  repent  and  mourn ;  who  fearest  the  bonds  of  thy  cor- 
ruptions are  so  strong,  that  they  shall  never  be  broken  ; 
believe  that  the  sovereign  grace  of  Christ  has  designed 
to  exalt  itself  in  the  sanctification  of  such  unholy  souls 
as  thou  art,  and  in  melting  such  hard  hearts  as  thine. 
And  thou  poor  trembling  soul,  that  wouldest  fain  trust  in 
a  Saviour,  but  art  afraid,  because  of  the  greatness  of  thy 
guilt,  and  thine  abounding  iniquities,  believe  this,  that 
where  sin  has  abounded,,  grace  has  much  more  abounded. 
It  is  from  the  bringing  such  sinners  as  thou  art  to  heaven, 
that  the  choicest  revenues  of  glory  shall  arise  to  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  thy  acclamations  of  joy  and 
honor  to  the  Saviour,  shall,  perhaps,  be  loudest  in  that 
day,  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his  saints^  and 
admired  in  them  that  believe. 

Kead  1  Tim.  i.  13,  14,  15,  and  16  ;  and  see  there 
what  an  account  the  great  apostle  gives  of  his  own  con- 
version ;  "  I  was  a  blasphemer,  and  a  persecutor,  and 
injurious,  yet  I  obtained  mercy ;  and  the  grace  of  our 
Lord  was  exceeding  abundant  with  faith  and  love,  which 
is  in  Jesus  Clmst."  Now  I  am  sent  to  publish  and 
preach  to  blasphemers  and  persecutors,  that  ^^this  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners  ;  of  whom  I 
am  cliief.  Howbeit,  for  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy, 
that  in  me  first,  Jesus  Christ  might  shew  forth  all  long 


i*;l%  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

suffering,  for  a  pattern  to  them  which  should  hereafter 
believe  on  liim  to  life  everlasting. 

Turn  to  another  text,  ye  feeble  believers,  %  Cor.  xii. 
9,  10 ;  there  you  shall  find  tlie  same  apostle  a  convert 
and  a  christian ;  but  too  weak  to  conflict  with  the  mes- 
senger of  satan  tliat  buffetted  him,  nor  able  to  release 
himself  from  that  sore  temptation  that  lay  heavy  upon 
him  ;  but  having  received  a  word  from  Christ,  that  his 
grace  was  sufficient,  and  that  his  strevgth  urns  to  shine 
perfect  in  glory  in  the  midst  of  our  weakness,  the  apostle 
encourages  himself  to  a  joyful  hope.  Now,  says  he,  I 
can  even  glory  in  my  infirmities,  so  far  as  they  are 
without  sin,  that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me  ; 
when  1  am  weak  in  myself,  /  am  strong  in  the  Lord. 

Are  not  the  most  diseased  patients  the  chief  honors  of 
the  physician  that  hath  healed  them?  And  must  not 
these  appear  eminently  in  that  day,  when  he  displays  to 
the  sight  of  the  world  the  noblest  monuments  of  his 
healing  power  ?  When  cripples  and  invalids  gain  the 
victory  over  mighty  enemies,  is  not  the  skill  and  conduct 
of  their  leader  most  admired  ?  You  are  the  persons 
then,  in  whom  Christ  will  be  glorified  :  be  of  good  cheer, 
receive  his  offered  grace,  and  wait  for  his  salvation. 

III.  The  next  use  I  shall  make  of  this  discourse,  is 
to  diaw  a  word  of  advice  from  it.  Learn  to  despise  those 
honors  and  ornaments  in  this  ivorld,  in  which  Christ 
shall  have  no  share  in  the  world  to  come.  I  do  not  say, 
cast  them  all  away,  for  many  tilings  are  needful  in  tliis 
life,  that  can  liave  no  immediate  regard  to  the  other  ;  but 
learn  to  despise  them,  and  set  light  by  tliem,  because 
they  reach  no  further  than  time,  and  shall  be  forgotten  m 
eternity.  Never  put  tiie  higher  esteem  on  yourselves  or 
your  neighbors,  because  of  the  gay  glitterings  of  silk  or 
silver;  nor  let  these  employ  your  eyes  and  your  thouglits 
in  the  time  of  worsliip,  wlien  the  things  of  the  future 
world  sliould  fill  up  all  youi'  attention  j  nor  let  them  eu- 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  1^3 

tertain  your  tongues  in  your  friendly  visits,  so  as  to 
exclude  the  discourse  of  divine  ornaments,  and  the  glo- 
rious appearance  of  our  Lord  Jesus. 

When  I  am  to  put  on  my  best  attire,  let  me  consider, 
if  I  am  hung  round  with  jewels  and  gold,  these  must 
perish  before  that  solemn  day,  or  melt  in  the  last  great 
burning ;  they  can  add  no  beauty  to  me  in  that  assembly. 
If  I  put  on  love,  and  faith,  and  humility,  I  shall  shine  in 
these  hereafter,  and  Christ  shall  have  some  rays  of  glory 
from  them.  O  may  your  souls  and  mine  be  drest  in 
those  graces  which  are  ornaments  of  great  prize  in  the 
sight  of  God  !  1  Pet.  iii.  3,  4.  Such  as  may  command 
the  respect  of  angels,  and  reflect  honor  upon  Christ  in 
that  solemnity ! 

I  confess  we  dwell  in  flesh  and  blood,  and  human 
nature  in  the  best  of  us  is  too  much  imprest  by  things 
sensible.  When  we  see  a  train  of  human  pomp  and 
grandeur,  and  long  ranks  of  shining  garments  and  equi- 
page, it  is  ready  to  dazzle  our  eyes,  and  attract  our 
hearts :  vain  pomp,  and  poor  equipage,  all  this,  when 
compared  with  the  triumph  of  our  blessed  Lord,  at  his 
appearance  with  an  endless  army  of  his  holy  ones  ;  where 
every  saint  shall  be  vested  (not  in  silks  and  gold)  but  in 
robes  of  refined  light,  out-shining  the  sun,  such  as  Christ 
himself  wore  in  the  mount  of  transfiguration.  Millions 
of  suns  in  one  fiimament  of  glory.  Think  on  that  day, 
and  the  illustrious  retinue  of  our  Lord.  Think  on  that 
splendor  that  shall  attract  the  eyes  of  heaven  and  earth, 
shall  confound  the  proud  sinner,  and  astonish  the  in- 
habitants of  hell.  Such  a  meditation  as  this  will  cast  a 
dim  shadow  over  the  brightest  appearances  of  a  court, 
or  a  royal  festival ;  it  will  spread  a  dead  coloring  over 
all  the  painted  vanities  of  this  life  ;  it  will  damp  every 
thought  of  rising  ambition  and  earthly  pride,  and  we 
shall  have  but  little  heart  to  admke  or  wish  for  any  of 
the  vain  shows  of  mortality.    Methinks  every  gaudy 


174  CHRIST  ADMIRED  AND 

scene  of  the  present  life,  and  all  the  gilded  honors  of 
courts  and  armies,  should  grow  faint,  and  fade  away,  and 
vanish,  at  the  meditation  of  this  illustrious  appearance. 

TV.  This  text  will  give  us  also  two  hints  of  caution. 

First.  You  that  are  rich  in  this  world^  or  wise,  or 
mighty,  dare  not  ridicule  nor  scoff  at  those  poor  weak 
christians  in  whom  Christ  shall  be  admired  and  glorified 
in  the  last  day.  You  that  fancy  you  have  any  advantages 
of  birth  or  beauty,  of  mind  or  body  liere  on  earth,  dare 
not  make  a  jest  of  your  poor  pious  neighbor  that  wants 
them,  for  he  is  one  of  those  persons  whom  Christ  calls 
his  glory  ;  and  he  himself  has  given  you  warning,  lest 
you  incur  his  resentment  on  this  account ;  Mat.  xviii.  6 ; 
^'  Whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  be- 
lieve in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were 
hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the 
depth  of  the  sea."  Perhaps  the  good  man  has  some 
blemish  in  his  outward  form,  or  it  may  be  his  countenance 
is  dejected,  or  his  mien  and  figure  awkward  and  un- 
comely ;  perhaps  his  garments  sit  wrong  and  unfash- 
ionable upon  him,  or  it  may  Ije  they  hang  in  tatters  ;  the 
motions  of  his  body  perhaps  are  ungraceful,  his  speech 
improper,  and  his  deportment  simple  and  unpolished;  but 
he  has  shining  graces  in  his  soul,  in  which  Christ  shall  be 
admired  in  the  last  day,  and  how  darest  thou  make  him 
thy  laughing-stock?  Wilt  thou  be  willing  to  hear  thy 
scornful  jest  repeated  again  at  that  day,  when  the  poor 
derided  christian  has  his  robes  of  glory  on,  and  the  Judge 
of  all  shall  acknowledge  him  for  one  of  his  favorites  ? 

The  second  hint  of  caution  is  this  ;  You  that  shall  be 
the  glory  of  Christ  in  that  day,  dare  not  do  any  thing 
that  may  dishonor  him  noiv.  Walk  answerable  to  your 
character  and  your  hope,  nor  indulge  the  least  sinful 
defilement.  Say  within  yourselves,  "  Am  I  to  make 
one  in  that  splendid  retinue  of  my  Lord,  Avhere  every 
one  must  appear  in  robes  of  holiness,  and  shall  I  spot 


GLORIFIED  IN  HIS  SAINTS.  lyg 

my  garments  with  the  flesh  ?  When  I  am  provoked  to 
anger  and  indignation,  let  me  say,  doth  wrath  and  blus- 
ter become  a  follower  and  an  attendant  of  the  meek  and 
peaceful  Jesus?  When  I  am  tempted  to  pride  and  vanity 
of  mind,  will  this  be  a  beauty,  or  a  blemish  to  that  as- 
sembly that  shines  in  glorious  humility  ?  Or  perhaps  I 
am  wavering,  and  ready  to  yield,  and  become  a  captive 
to  some  foolish  temptation  ;  but  how  then  can  I  expect 
a  place  in  that  holy  triumpli,  which  is  appointed  for  none 
but  conquerors  ?  And  how  shall  I  be  able  to  look  my 
blessed  General  in  the  face  on  that  day,  if  I  prove  a 
coward  under  his  banner,  and  abandon  my  profession  of 
strict  holiness,  at  the  demand  of  a  sinful  and  threatening 
world  ?-' 

Y.  Tlie  last  use  I  .shall  make  of  the  text,  is  matter  of 
consolation  and  joy  to  two  sorts  of  christians. 

First.  To  the  jpoor,  mean,  and  despised  followers  of 
Christ,  and  in  whom  Christ  himself  is  despised  by  the 
ungodly  world ;  read  my  text,  and  believe  that  in  you 
Christ  shall  be  gloriiied  and  admired,  when,  with  a 
million  of  angels,  he  shall  •descend  from  heaven,  and 
make  his  last  appearance  upon  earth  ;  mean  as  you  are 
in  your  own  esteem,  because  of  your  ignorance  and  your 
weakness  in  this  world,  you  shall  be  one  of  the  glories 
of  Christ  in  the  world  to  come  ;  little  and  despicable  as 
you  are  in  the  esteem  of  proud  sinners,  they  shall  behold 
your  Lord  exalted  on  his  throne,  and  you  sitting  among 
the  honors  at  his  right  hand,  while  they  shall  rage  afar 
off,  and  gnash  their  teeth  at  your  glory ;  when  the  eye 
of  faith  is  open,  it  can  spy  this  bright  hour  at  a  distance, 
and  bid  the  mourning  christian  rejoice  in  hope. 

Secondly.  There  is  comfort  also  in  my  text,  to  those 
who  mourn  for  the  dishonor  of  Christ  in  the  world  ;  those 
lively  members  of  the  mystical  body  who  sympathise 
with  the  blessed  Head,  under  all  the  reproaches  tliat  are 
cast  upon  him  and  his  gospel,  who  groan  under  the  load 


176  CHRIST  ADMIRED,  See 

of  scandal  that  is  thrown  upon  Christ  in  an  infidel  age, 
as  though  it  were  personally  thrown  upon  themselves. 
It  is  matter  of  lamentation  indeed,  that  there  are  but  few 
of  this  sort  of  clu'istians  in  our  day,  few  that  love  our 
Lord  Jesus  with  such  tenderness ;  but  if  such  tliere  be 
among  you,  open  your  eyes,  and  look  forward  to  this 
glorious  day.  This  day,  to  which  Enoch,  the  first  of  all 
the  prophets,  and  John,  the  last  of  all  the  apostles,  di- 
rects our  faith  ;  Jude  14,  15  ;  Rev.  i.  7-  "  Behold,  the 
Lord  Cometh  with  ten  thousands  of  his  saints,  to  execute 
judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all  that  are  ungodly 
among  them,  of  all  their  ungodly  deeds  which  they  have 
ungodly  committed,  and  of  all  the  hard  speeches,  which 
ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him.  Behold,  he 
Cometh  with  clouds ;  and  every  eye  shall  see  him,  and 
they  also  which  pierced  him.  And  all  kindreds  of  the 
earth  shall  wail  because  of  him."  Bear  up  your  hearts, 
ye  mourners,  and  support  your  hopes  with  the  promise 
of  oiu'  Lord.  ^'  Again,  a  little  while  and  ye  shall  see 
me  5  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  throne  of 
his  glory;"  Matt.  xxv.  3il.  "Then  shall  your  heart 
rejoice  in  his  lionors  and  in  your  own,  and  this  joy  no 
man  taketli  from  you ;"  John  xvi.  19?  22.  And  while  he 
repeats  this  promise  with  his  last  words  in  the  Bible, 
surely  I  come  quickly,  let  every  soul  of  us  echo  to  the 
voice  of  our  beloved  5  amen.    Even  so  come  Lord  Jesus. 


DISCOUHSE  V. 

THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB. 

REV.  vi.  15,  16,  17- 

And  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  the  great  men,  and  the 
rich  men,  and  the  chief  captains,  and  the  mighty  men, 
and  every  bond-man,  and  every  free-man,  hid  them- 
selves in  the  dens,  and  in  the  rocks  of  the  mountains ; 
and  said  to  the  mountains  and  rocks,  fall  on  us,  and 
hide  us  from  the  face  of  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb:  for  the  great  day  of 
his  wrath  is  come  ;  and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand. 

WHEN  some  terrible  judgment,  or  execution  of 
divine  vengeance  is  denounced  against  an  age  or  a  na- 
tion, it  is  sometimes  described  in  the  language  of  pro- 
phecy, by  a  resemblance  to  the  last  and  great  judgment- 
day,  when  all  mankind  shall  be  called  to  account  for 
their  sins,  and  the  just  and  final  indignation  of  God 
shall  be  executed  upon  obstinate  and  unrepenting  crimi- 
nals. The  discourse  of  our  Saviour  in  the  xxivth  of 
Matthew,  is  an  eminent  example  of  this  kind,  where 
the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  nation  is  predicted,  together 
with  the  final  judgment  of  the  world,  in  such  uniform 
language,  and  similar  phrases  of  speech,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say,  whether  both  these  scenes  of  vengeance  run 
through  the  whole  discourse,  or  which  part  of  the  dis- 
course belongs  to  the  one,  and  which  to  the  other.  The 
same  manner  of  prophecy  appears  in  this  text. 

Learned  interpreters  suppose  these  words  to  foretel 
the  universal  consternation  which  was  found  amongst 
the  heathen  idolaters  and  persecutors  of  the  church  of 


178  THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB. 

Christ,  when  Constantine,  the  first  christiau  Emperor, 
was  raised  to  the  throne  of  Rome,  and  became  governor 
of  the  world.  But  whether  they  hit  upon  the  proper 
application  of  this  prophecy  or  not,  yet  still  it  is  pretty 
evident,  that  this  scene  of  terror  is  borrowed  from  the 
last  judgment,  which  will  eminently  appear  to  be  the  day 
of  wrath,  as  it  is  called  ;  Rom.  ii.  5.  It  is  the  great  day 
of  divine  indignation,  in  so  eminent  a  manner,  that  all 
the  tremendous  desolations  of  kingdoms  and  people? 
from  the  creation  of  the  world,  to  the  consummation  of 
all  things,  shall  be  but  as  shadows  of  that  day  of  terror 
and  vengeance. 

1  shall  therefore  consider  these  words  at  present,  as  they 
contain  a  solemn  representation  of  that  last  glorious  and 
dreadful  day ;  and  here  I  shall  enquire  particularly. 
1.  Who  are  the  persons  whose  aspect  and  appearance 
shall  then  be  so  dreadful  to  sinners  ?  2.  How  comes  the 
wrath  which  discovers  itself  at  that  time  to  be  so  formi- 
dable ?  and  3.  How  vain  will  all  the  shifts  and  hopes 
of  sinners  be,  in  that  dreadful  day,  to  avoid  the  wrath 
and  vengeance. 

First.  Who  are  the  persons  that  appear  clothed  in  so 
much  terror  ? 

Answer.  It  is  he  that  sits  ujwn  the  throne,  and  the 
Lamb.  It  is  God  the  Father  of  all,  the  great  and  Al- 
mighty Creator,  the  supreme  Lord  and  Governor  of  the 
world,  and  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  is,  onr  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Son,  dwelling  in  human  nature,  to  whom  the 
Judgment  of  the  world  is  committed,  and  by  whom  the 
Father  will  introduce  the  terrible  and  the  illustrious 
scenes  of  that  day,  and  manage  the  important  and  eter- 
nal affairs  of  it.  It  is  by  these  names  that  tlie  apostle 
John,  in  this  prophetical  book,  describes  God  the  Father, 
and  his  Son  Jesus  ;  Rev.  iv.  10,  and  v.  6 — 13. 

If  it  be  enquired,  why  God  the  Father  is  described  as 
the  person  sitting  on  the  throne,  this  is  plainly  agreea- 


THE  WRATH  GF  THE  LAMB  1^9 

ble  to  the  other  representations  of  him  throughout  the 
scripture,  where  he  is  described  as  first  and  supreme  in 
authority,  as  sitting  on  the  throne  of  majesty  on  high,  as 
denoting  and  commissioning  the  Lord  Jesus,  his  well- 
beloved  Son;  to  act  for  him,  and  as  placing  him  on  his 
tlirone,  to  execute  his  works  of  mercy  or  vengeance ; 
Rev.  iii.  2i.  ^'Ht  that  overcometh  shall  sit  down  with 
me  on  my  throne,  saith  our  Saviour,  even  as  I  have  over- 
come, and  am  set  down  with  the  Father  on  his  throne  f 
John  V.  22—27.  "The  Father  hath  committed  all  judg- 
ment into  the  hands  of  the  Son/^  It  is  true,  the  Grod- 
head  or  divine  essence  is  but  one,  and  it  is  the  same 
Godhead  which  belongs  to  the  Father  that  dwells  in  the 
Son,  and  in  this  respect  Christ  and  the  Father  are  one, 
he  is  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  him  ;  John  x. 
30,  38 ;  yet  the  Father  is  constantly  exhibited  in  scrip- 
ture, with  peculiar  characters  of  prime  authority,  and 
the  Son  is  represented  as  receiving  all  from  the  Father ; 
John  V.  19,20,22,26,27. 

If  it  be  farther  enquired,  why  Christ  is  called  the 
Lamh  of  God,  I  shall  not  pursue  those  many  fine  meta- 
phors and  similes,  in  which  the  wit  and  fancy  of  men 
have  run  a  long  course  on  this  subject  ;  but  shall  only 
mention  these  two  things. 

1.  He  is  called  the  Lamb,  from  the  innocence  of  his 
behavior,  the  quietness  and  meekness  of  his  disposition 
and  conduct  in  the  world.  The  character  of  Jesus, 
among  men,  was  peaceful,  and  harmless,  and  patient  of 
injuries  ;  when  he  was  reviled,  he  reviled  not  again,  but 
was  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  with  submission,  and 
without  revenge.  This  resemblance  appears,  and  is 
set  forth  to  view  in  several  scriptures,  wherein  he  is 
compared  to  this  gentle  creature  ;  Acts  viii.  32  ;  1  Pet. 
ii.  23. 

2.  He  is  called  the  Lamb,  because  he  was  appointed 
a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men ;  John  1.   29.  "Behold 


180  THE  WRATH  OP  THE  LAMB. 

the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world  ;"  1  Pet.  1.  18,  19  ;  "  You  were  redeemed  with 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blem- 
ish, and  without  spot."  It  was  a  lamb  that  was  or- 
dained for  the  constant  daily  sacrifice  amongst  the  Jews, 
morning  and  evening,  to  typify  the  constant  and  ever- 
lasting influence  of  the  atonement  made  by  the  death  of 
Christ ;  Heb.  x.  11,  12.  It  was  a  lamb  which  was 
sacrificed  at  the  passover,  and  on  which  the  families  of 
Israel  feasted,  to  commemorate  their  redemption  from 
the  slavery  of  Egypt,  and  to  typify  Christ  who  is  our 
passover,  who  was  sacrificed  for  us,  and  for  whose  sake 
the  destroying  angel  spares  all  that  trust  in  him  ;  1  Cor. 
V.  7. 

But  will  a  lamb  discover  such  dreadful  wrath  ?  Has 
the  Lamb  of  God  such  indignation  in  him  ?  Can  the 
meek,  the  compassionate,  the  merciful  Son  of  God,  put 
on  such  terrible  forms  and  appearances  ?  Are  his  ten- 
der mercies  vanished  quite  away,  and  will  he  renounce 
the  kind  aspect,  and  the  gentle  language  of  a  lamb  for 
ever  ? 

To  this  I  answer,  that  the  various  glories  and  offices 
of  our  blessed  Lord,  require  a  variety  of  human  meta- 
phors and  emblems  to  represent  them.  He  was  a  Lamb, 
full  of  gentleness,  meekness,  and  compassion,  to  invite 
and  encourage  sinful  perishing  creatures,  to  accept  of 
divine  mercy.  But  he  has  now  to  deal  with  obstinate 
and  rebellious  criminals,  who  renounce  his  Father's 
mercy,  and  resist  all  the  gentle  methods  of  his  own 
grace  and  salvation.  And  he  is  sent  by  the  Father  to 
punish  those  rebellions,  but  he  is  named  tJie  Lamb  of 
God  still,  to  put  the  rebels  in  mind  what  gentleness  and 
compassion  they  have  affronted  and  abused,  and  to  make 
it  appear  that  their  guilt  is  utterly  inexcusable. 

Let  us  remember,  Christ  is  now  a  Lamb,  raised  to 
the  throne  in  heaven,   and  furnished  and  armed  with 


THE  WRATH  OP  THE  LAMB.  181 

seven  eyes  and  seven  horns,  with  perfect  knowledge  and 
perfect  power,  to  govern  the  world,  to  vindicate  his  own 
honor,  and  to  avenge  himself  upon  his  impenitent  and 
obstinate  enemies  ;  Rev.  v.  5,  6.  Here  the  Lamb  will 
assume  the  name  of  the  Lio7i  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  also, 
and  he  must  act  in  different  characters,  according  to  tlie 
persons  he  has  to  deal  with. 

The  second  general  question  which  we  are  to  consider 
is,  How  comes  the  wrath  of  that  great  day  to  be  so  ter- 
rible P 

I  answer  in  general,  because  it  is  not  only  the  wrath 
of  God,  but  of  the  Lamb.  It  is  the  wrath  that  is  mani- 
fested for  the  affronts  of  divine  authority,  and  the  abuse 
of  divine  mercy.  It  is  wrath  that  is  awakened  by 
the  contempt  of  the  laws  of  God,  written  in  tlje  books  of 
nature  and  scripture,  and  for  the  contempt  of  his  love 
revealed  in  the  gospel  by  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  proper  to  observe  here,  that  the  ivrath  of  God, 
and  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb,  are  not  to  be  conceived  as 
exactly  the  same,  for  it  is  the  wrath  of  the  Son  of  God 
in  his  human  nature  exalted,  as  well  as  the  displeasure 
of  God  the  Father.  It  is  the  righteous  and  holy  resent- 
ment of  the  man  Jesus,  awakened  and  let  loose  against 
rebellious  creatures,  that  have  broken  all  the  rules  of 
his  Father's  government,  and  have  refused  all  the  pro- 
posals of  his  Father's  grace.  It  is  the  wrath  of  the 
highest,  the  greatest,  and  the  best  of  creatures,  joined  to 
the  wrath  of  an  offended  creator.*  Eut  let  us  enter  a 
little  into  particulars. 

*  Here  let  it  be  observed,  that  when  the  holy  scripture  speaks  of  the  -wrath 
and  indignation  of  the  blessed  God,  we  are  not  to  understrnd  it  as  though  God 
were  subject  to  such  passions  or  affections  of  nature,  as  we  feel  fermenting' 
or  working  within  om-selves  when  our  anger  rises  ;  but  because  the  justice 
or  rectoral  wisdom  of  God  inclines  him  to  bring  natural  evil,  pain  or  sorrow, 
upon  those  who  are  obstinately  guilty  of  moral  evil  or  sin,  and  to  treat  them  as 
anger  or  wrath  inclines  men  to  treat  those  that  have  offended  them  ;  there- 
fore the  scripture  speaking  after  the  manner  of  men,  calls  it,  the  -wrath  and 
indignation  of  God. 


183  THE  WUATH  OF  THE  LAMB. 

1.  It  is  righteous  wratli,  and  just  and  deserved  ven^ 
^eance^Wmi  arises  from  the  clearest  discoveries  of  the  love 
of  God  neglected,  and  the  sweetest  messages  of  divine 
grace  refused.  All  the  former  discoveries  of  the  love 
of  God  to  men,  both  in  nature  and  providence,  as  well 
as  by  divine  revelation,  whether  made  by  men,  or  by 
angels,  whether  in  the  days  of  the  patriarchs,  or  in  the 
days  of  Moses  and  the  Jews,  were  far  inferior  to  the 
grace  which  was  revealed  by  Jesus  Christ ;  and  there- 
fore the  sin  of  rejecting  it  is  greater  in  proportion,  and 
the  punishment  will  be  more  severe.  If  the  ivord  sjwken 
by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression  and  dis- 
obedience received  a  just  recompence  of  reward, — how 
shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation,  as  this 
which  began  to  be  spohen  by  our  Lord  ?  Heb.  ii.  2,  3. 

Moses  had  many  true  discoveries  of  grace  made  to 
him,  and  entrusted  with  him  for  sinful  men.  Bu^  the 
scripture  saith,  John  i.  17 ;  The  law  came  by  Moses,  and 
grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ ;  that  is,  in  sucii 
superabundance,  as  though  grace  and  truth  had  never 
appeared  in  the  world  before.  The  forgiving  mercy  of 
God,  under  the  veil  of  ceremonies  and  sacrifices,  and  the 
mediation  of  Ciirist,  under  the  type  of  the  high  Priest, 
was  but  a  dark  and  imperfect  discovery,  in  comparison 
of  the  free,  the  large,  the  full  forgiveness,  which  is 
brought  to  us  by  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Learn  this  doc- 
trine at  large,  from  Heb.  x.  1 — 14.  This  is  amazing 
mercy,  astonishing  grace ;  and  the  despisers  of  it  will 
deserve  to  perish  with  double  destruction,  for  they  wink 
their  eyes  against  clearer  light,«and  reject  the  offers  of 
more  abounding  love. 

And  it  is  liard  to  say,  whether  or  no  the  7vrath  of  the  Lamb,  that  is,  of  the 
man  Christ  Jesus,  in  whom  Godhead  dwells,  be  any  thing  more,  than  tlie 
calm,  dispassionate,  rectoral  wisdom  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  inclin- 
ing him  to  punish  rebellious  and  impenitent  sinners,  in  confurmity,to  the  will 
of  God  his  Father,  or  in  concurrence  jwith  the  Godhead  which  dwells  in  him- 


THE  WRATH  OP  THE  LAMB.  18B 

2.  It  is  wrath  that  is  awakened  by  the  most  precious 
and  most  expensive  methods  of  salvation  slighted  and 
undervalued.  Well  may  Grod  say  to  christian  nations, 
especially  to  Great  Britain,  who  sits  under  the  daily 
sound  of  this  gospel,  *^'  What  could  I  have  done  more 
for  you  than  I  have  done  ?  Isaiah  v.  4.  I  have  sent  my 
own  Son,  the  Son  of  my  hosom,  the  Son  of  my  eternal 
love,  to  take  flesh  and  blood  upon  him,  that  he  might 
be  able  to  die  in  your  stead,  who  were  guilty  rebels, 
and  deserved  to  die  :  I  have  given  him  up  to  the  insults 
and  injuries  of  men,  to  the  temptations,  the  buifettings, 
and  rage  of  devils,  to  the  stroke  of  the  sword  of  my  jus- 
tice, to  the  cursed  death  of  the  cross  for  you  ;  here  is 
heaven  and  salvation  purchased  for  man,  with  the  dear- 
est and  most  valuable  life  in  all  the  creation,  with  the 
richest  blood  that  ever  ran  in  the  veins  of  a  creature,  with 
the  life  and  blood  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  yet  you  re- 
fused to  receive  and  accept  of  this  salvation,  procured 
af  so  immense  a  price.  I  called  you  to  partake  of  this 
invaluable  blessing  freely,  ivithout  money  and  without 
price,  and  yet  you  slighted  all  these  offers  of  mercy  ; 
what  remains  but  that  my  wrath  should  kindle  against 
you  in  the  hottest  degree,  and  fill  your  souls  with  ex- 
quisite anguish  and  misery  ;  you  have  refused  to  accept 
of  a  covenant  which  was  sealed  with  the  blood  of  my 
own  Son,  which  was  confirmed  by  miraculous  operations 
of  my  own  Spirit ;  you  have  valued  your  sinful  pleas- 
ures, and  the  trifles  of  this  vain  world,  above  the  blood 
of  my  Son,  and  the  life  of  your  souls.  It  is  divinely 
proper  that  divine  vengeance  should  be  your  portion, 
who  have  rejected  such  rich  treasures  of  divine  love.''' 
Hebrews  x.  ^8 — 31.  ^' He  that  despised  Moses  law,  died 
without  mercy,  under  two  or  three  witnesses ;  of  how 
much  sorer  punishment  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  thought 
worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God, 
and  hath  counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  wherewith 


184?  THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB. 

he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy  thing,  and  hath  done  des- 
pite unto  the  spirit  of  grace?  For  we  know  him  that 
hath  said,  vengeance  belongeth  unto  me,  I  will  repay, 
saith  the  Lord." 

3.  It  is  wrath  that  must  avenge  the  affronts  and  in- 
juries done  to  the  prime  tninister  of  God's  government, 
and  the  chief  messenger  of  his  mercij.  All  the  Patri- 
archs, and  the  Prophets,  and  Angels  themselves,  were 
but  servants  to  bring  messages  of  divine  grace  to  men, 
and  som€  of  them  in  awful  forms  and  appearances,  rep- 
resented the  authority  of  God  too.  But  the  Son  of  God 
is  the  prime  minister  of  bis  government,  and  the  noblest 
ambassador  of  his  grace,  and  the  chief  deputy  or  vicege- 
rent in  his  Father's  kingdom  ;  See  Heb.  i.  1,  S  ;  Psalms 
ii.  6,  9,  IS.  His  Father's  glory  and  grandeur,  compas- 
sion and  love,  are  most  sublimely  exhibited  in  the  face 
of  Christ  his  Son,  and  God  will  not  have  his  highest 
and  fairest  image  disgraced  and  affronted,  without  pe- 
culiar and  signal  vengeance. 

The  great  God  will  vindicate  the  honors  of  his  Son 
Jesus,  in  tlie  infinite  destruction  of  a  rebellious  and  un- 
believing world.  And  the  Son  himself  hath  wrath  and 
just  resentment  ;  he  will  vindicate  his  own  authority, 
and  his  commission  of  grace.  He  hath  a  rod  of  iron 
put  into  his  hands,  as  v/ell  as  a  sceptre  of  mercy,  and 
with  this  rod  will  he  break  to  pieces  rebellious  nations ; 
Rev.  iii.  latter  end.  Is  it  not  fit  that  the  first  minister 
of  the  empire  of  the  king  of  heaven,  and  the  brightest 
image  of  his  majesty  and  of  his  love,  sliould  appear 
always  in  the  character  of  a  Lamb,  a  meek  and  unre- 
senting  creature.  He  will  put  on  the  Lion  when  his 
commission  of  grace  is  ended.  He  is  the  Lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah  ;  Rev  v.  5  ;  and  will  rend  the  caul  of  the 
heart  of  those  unrepenting  sinners,  who  have  resisted 
his  authority  and  abused  his  love. 

And  how  will  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb  of  God  penetrate 


THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB  185 

the  soul  of  sinners  with  intense  anguish,  when  the  meek 
and  the  compassionate  Jesus,  shall  be  commissioned  and 
constrained  to  speak  the  language  of  resentment  and 
divine  indignation? 

^^  Did  you  not  hear  of  me,  sinners,  in  yonder  world^ 
which  lies  weltering  in  flames?  Did  you  not  read  of 
me  in  the  gospel  of  my  grace  ?  Did  you  not  learn  my 
character  and  my  salvation  in  the  ministrations  of  my 
word  ?  Were  you  not  told  that  I  was  appointed  to  be 
a  Saviour  of  a  lost  world,  and  a  minister  of  divine  mercy 
to  men  ?  And  was  there  not  abundant  evidence  of  it  by 
miracles  and  prophecies  ?  Were  you  not  told  I  was 
exalted  after  my  suflPerings,  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  on 
purpose  to  bestow  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  ? 
Acts  V.  31.  And  were  you  not  informed  also,  that  I 
had  a  rod  of  iron  given  me,  to  dash  rebels  to  death  ? 
Psalm  ii.  What  is  the  reason  you  never  came  to  me, 
or  submitted  to  my  government,  or  accepted  of  my  grace  ? 
Did  you  never  hear  of  the  threatenings  that  stood  like 
drawn  swords,  against  those  who  wilfully  refuse  this 
mercy  ?  Did  you  think  these  were  mere  bugbears,  mere 
sounding  words  to  frighten  chikken  with,  and  harmless 
thunder  that  would  never  blast  you?  Did  you  think 
these  flashes  of  wrath  in  my  word,  were  such  sort  of 
lightenings  as  you  might  safely  play  with,  and  flame 
that  would  never  burn  ?  What  punishments,  think  you^ 
do  you  deserve,  first  for  the  abuse  of  my  authority,  and 
then  for  the  wilful  and  obstinate  refusal  of  my  grace  ? 
Is  it  not  divinely  fit  and  proper,  my  wrath  should  awake 
against  such  heinous  criminals  ?  Where  is  any  proper 
object  for  my  resentment,  if  you  are  not  made  objects 
of  it  ?  Take  them,  angels,  bind  them  hand  and  foot,  and 
cast  them  into  utter  darkness.  Let  them  be  thrown 
headlong  into  the  prison  of  hell,  where  fire  and  brim- 
stone burn  unquenchably,  where  light,  and  peace,  and 
hope  can  newer  come.     Let  them  be  rnislied  with  the 


186  THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB 

rod  of  iron,  which  the  Father  hath  put  into  my  hands, 
as  the  first  minister  of  his  kingdom,  as  the  avenger  of 
his  despised  grace." 

4.  It  is  a  wrath  that  is  excited  hy  a  final  and  utter  re- 
jection of  the  last  proposals  of  divine  love.  When  mercy 
was  offered  to  men  by  the  blessed  God  at  first,  the  dis- 
coveries were  more  dark  and  imperfect ;  there  were  still 
further  discoveries  to  be  made  in  following  ages ;  there- 
fore the  crime  and  guilt  of  sinners  in  those  former  days, 
was  much  less  than  the  crime  and  guilt  of  those  who 
reject  this  last  proposal  of  mercy.  There  is  no  further 
edition  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  for  those  who  refuse 
this  offer.  Those  who  neglect  Christ,  as  he  is  set  forth 
in  the  gospel  to  be  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  there  remains  no 
more  sacrifice  for  them,  but  a  certain  fearful  expectation 
of  vengeance  and  fiery  indignation,  tchich  shall  consume 
the  adversary  ;  Heb.  10.  26,  28. 

All  the  former  dispensations  of  grace  are  contained 
eminently,  and  completed  in  this  dispensation  of  the 
gospel.  Grod  can  send  no  greater  messenger  than  his 
own  Son  ;  and  he  concludes  and  finishes  the  whole 
scene  and  period  of  grace,  with  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
There  remains  nothing  but  wrath  to  the  uttermost,  for 
those  who  have  abused  this  last  offer  of  mercy.  This 
was  exemplified  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
Jews,  a  little  after  they  had  put  Christ  to  death,  and 
rejected  the  salvation  which  he  proposed  ;  and  this 
wrath  will  be  more  terribly  glorified  in  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  every  sinner  that  wilfully  rejects  the  glad  tidings 
of  this  salvation. 

5.  It  is  such  wrath  as  arises  from  the  patience  of  a 
God,  tired  and  worn  out  by  the  boldest  iniquities  of  men, 
and  by  a  final  perseverance  in  their  rebellions.  It  is 
the  character  and  glory  of  God,  to  be  long-svjfering,  and 
slow  to  anger  ;  Exod.  xxxiv.  6  ;  The  Lord  God  merci- 
ful and  gracious,  long-sufferirig,  and  abundant  in  good- 


THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB.  187 

ness  and  truth;  and  Jesus  his  Son,  is  the  minister  of 
this  his  patience,  and  the  intercessor  for  this  delay  of 
judgment  and  vengeance.  He  is  represented  as  inter- 
ceding one  year  after  another,  for  the  reprieve  of  obsti- 
nate sinners ;  and  at  his  intercession,  God  the  Father 
waits  to  he  gracious.  But  God  will  not  wait  and  delay, 
and  keep  silence  for  ever  ;  nor  will  Jesus  for  ever  plead. 
Psalm.  1.  1,  3,  21,  23 ;  Consider  this,  ye  that  forget 
God,  lest  he  tare  you  in  pieces,  and  there  he  none  to 
deliver,  God  will  say  then  to  obstinate  sinners,  as  he 
did  to  the  Jews  of  old  ;  Jer.  xv.  5,  6  ;  J  will  stretch  out 
my  hand  against  thee  and  destroy  thee  ;  I  am  weary  of 
repenting  ;  and  even  the  abused  patience  of  Jesus  the 
Saviour,  shall  turn  into  fury,  when  the  day  ofrecompence 
shall  come,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  which  is  in  his 
heart ;  Isaiah  Ixiii.  1,  4. 

O  let  each  of  us  consider,  "  How  long  have  I  made 
the  grace  of  God  wait  on  me  ?  How  many  messages  of 
peace  and  pardon  have  I  neglected  ?  How  many  years 
have  I  delayed  to  accept  of  this  salvation,  and  made 
Jesus  wait  on  an  impenitent  rebel,  with  the  commission 
of  mercy  in  his  hand,  while  I  have  refused  to  receive  it  ? 
Let  my  soul  be  this  day  awakened  to  lay  hold  of  the 
covenant  of  grace,  to  submit  to  the  gospel  of  Christ,  lest 
to-morrow  the  days  of  his  commission  of  mercy  toward 
me  expire,  lest  the  patience  of  a  God  be  finished,  lest 
the  abused  love  of  a  Saviour  turn  into  fury,  and  nothing 
remains  for  me  but  unavoidable  destruction.'' 

6.  It  is  a  sentence  of  divine  wrath,  which  shall  he  at- 
tended with  the  fullest  conviction  of  sinners,  and  self- 
condemnation  in  their  own  consciences.  This  doubles 
the  sensations  of  divine  wi'ath,  and  enhances  the  anguish 
of  the  criminal  to  a  high  degi'ee. 

This  final  unbelief  and  rejection  of  grace,  is  a  sin 
against  so  much  light,  and  so  much  love,  that  however 
men  chejit  their  consciences  now,  and  charm  tliem  into 


188  THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB. 

silence,  yet  at  the  last  gi'eat  day,  their  own  consciences 
shall  be  on  the  side  of  the  Judge,  when  he  pronounces 
wrath  and  damnation  upon  them.  What  infinite  terrors 
will  shake  the  soul,  when  there  is  not  one  of  its  own 
thoughts  can  speak  peace  within  ?  When  all  its  own 
inward  powers  shall  echo  to  the  sentence  of  the  Judge, 
and  acknowledge  the  justice  and  equity  of  it  for  ever. 

O  who  can  express  the  agonies  of  pain  and  torture^ 
when  the  impenitent  sinner  shall  be  awakened  into  such 
reflections  as  these  ?  ^^  I  was  placed  in  a  land  of  light  and 
knowledge  ;  the  light  of  the  gospel  of  grace  shone 
all  around  me  |  but  I  winked  my  eyes  against  the  light, 
and  now  I  am  plunged  into  utter  and  eternal  darkness. 
I  was  convinced  often  that  I  was  a  sinner,  and  in  danger 
of  death  and  hell ;  I  was  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  all-sufficiency  of  the  salvation  of  Christ ; 
but  I  loved  the  vanities  of  this  life,  I  followed  the  appe- 
tites of  the  flesh,  and  the  delusive  charms  of  a  tempting 
world,  I  delayed  to  answer  to  the  voice  of  providence, 
and  the  voice  of  mercy,  the  voice  of  the  gospel,  inviting 
me  to  this  salvation,  and  the  voice  of  Christ  requiring  me 
to  be  saved.  My  own  heart  condemns  me  with  ten 
thousand  reproaches.  How  righteous  is  God  in  his  in- 
dignation !  How  just  is  the  resentment  of  the  Lamb  of 
God  in  this  day  of  his  wrath  !  What  clear  and  con- 
vincing and  dreadful  equity  attends  the  sentence  of  my 
condemnation,  and  doubles  the  anguish  of  my  soul  ?" 

7-  It  is  such  wrath  as  slmll  he  executed  immediately 
and  eternally,  icithout  one  hour  of  reprieve,  and  without 
the  least  hope  of  mercy,  and  that  through  all  the  ages  to 
come.  For  though  Jesus  is  tlje  Mediator  between  God  and 
man,  to  reconcile  those  to  God  who  have  broken  his  law, 
there  is  no  Mediator  appointed  to  reconcile  those  sinners 
to  Christ,  when  they  have  finally  resisted  the  grace  of 
his  gospel.  There  is  no  blood  nor  death  that  can  atone 
foi*  the  final  rejection  of  the  blood  of  this  dying  Saviour. 


THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB.  189 

If  we  resist  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord,  and  his  atonement, 
and  his  sacrifice,  his  gospel  and  his  salvation,  there  re- 
mains no  more  atonement  for  us.  Let  us  consider  each 
of  these  circumstances  apart,  and  dwell  a  little  on  these 
terrors,  that  our  hearts  may  be  affected  with  them. 

1.  This  wrath  shall  be  executed  immediately,  for  the 
time  of  reprieve  is  come  to  an  end.  Here  divine  wisdom 
and  justice  have  set  the  limits  of  divine  patience,  and 
they  reach  no  further. 

2.  It  is  wrath  that  shall  be  executed  without  mercy, 
because  the  day  and  hour  of  mercy  is  for  ever  finished. 
That  belongs  only  to  this  life.  The  day  of  gi'ace  is 
gone  for  ever.  He  that  once  made  them,  will  now  have 
no  mercy  upon  them  ;  and  he  that  formed  them,  will  shew 
them  no  favor  ;  Isa.  xxvii.  H.  The  very  mercy  of  the 
Mediator,  the  compassion  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  is  turned 
into  wrath  and  fury.  The  Lamb  himself  has  put  on  the 
form  of  a  Lion,  and  there  is  no  Redeemer  or  advocate  to 
speak  a  word  for  them  who  have  finally  rejected  Jesus, 
the  only  Mediator,  worn  out  the  age  of  his  pity,  and 
provoked  his  wrath  as  well  as  his  Father's. 

3.  It  is  wrath  without  end,  for  their  souls  are  immor- 
tal, their  bodies  are  raised  to  an  immortal  state,  and  their 
whole  nature  being  sinful,  and  miserable,  and  immortal, 
they  must  endure  a  wretched  and  miserable  immortality. 
This  is  the  representation  of  the  book  of  God,  even  of  the 
New  Testament ;  and  I  have  no  commission  from  God, 
either  to  soften  these  words  of  terror,  or  to  shorten  the 
term  of  their  misery. 

REMARKS    OX   THIS    DISCOURSE. 

Remark  1.  What  a  wretched  mistake  is  it  to  imagine 
the  great  God  is  nothing  else  but  mercy,  and  Jesus 
Christ  is  nothing  else  but  love  and  salvation.  It  is  true, 
God  has  more  mercy  than  we  can  imagine ;  his  love  is 
boundless  in  many  of  its  exercises  j  and  Jesus  his  Son, 


190  THE  WRATH  OP  THE  LAMB. 

who  is  the  image  of  the  Father,  is  the  fairest  image  of 
his  love  and  grace.  His  compassions  have  heights  and 
depths,  and  leiigths  and  breadths  in  them,  that  pass  all 
our  knowledge  ;  Eph.  iii.  18.  But  God  is  a  universal 
Sovereign,  a  wise  and  righteous  Governor.  There  is 
majesty  with  him  as  well  as  grace ;  and  Jesus  is  the 
Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of  kings.  He  bears  the  image 
of  his  Father's  justice,  as  well  as  of  his  Father's  love ; 
otlierwise  he  could  not  be  the  full  brightness  of  his 
glory,  nor  the  express  image  of  his  person. 

And  besides,  the  Father  hath  armed  him  with  powers 
of  divine  vengeance,  as  well  as  with  powers  of  mercy 
and  salvation.  Psalm  ii.  9 ;  He  has  put  the  rod  of  iron 
into  his  hand,  to  dash  the  nations  like  a  potters  vessel. 
Rev.  ii.  27,  and  xix.  13  ;  He  is  the  elect  and  precious 
corner  stone  laid  in  Zion ;  1  Pet.  ii.  6.  But  he  is  a 
stone  that  will  bruise  those  who  stumble  at  him,  and  those 
on  whom  he  shall  fall,  he  will  grind  them  to  powder; 
Matt.  xxi.  43.  He  is  a  Lamb  and  a  Lion  too.  He  can 
suflFer  at  Jerusalem  and  mount  Calvary,  with  silence,  and 
not  opeyi  his  mouth  ;  and  he  can  roar  from  heaven  with 
overspreading  terror,  and  shake  the  world  with  the 
sound  of  his  anger.     See  that  his  mercy  be  not  abused. 

Remark  2.  The  day  of  Chnsfs  patience  makes  haste 
to  an  end.  Every  day  of  neglected  grace  hastens  on  the 
hour  of  his  wrath  and  vengeance.  Sinners  waste  their 
months  and  years  in  rebellion  against  his  love,  while  he 
waits  months  and  years  to  be  gracious  :  but  Christ  is  all- 
wise,  and  he  knows  the  proper  period  of  long-suflPering, 
and  the  proper  moment  to  let  all  his  wrath  and  resent- 
ment loose,  on  obstinate  and  unreclaimable  sinners.  Oh 
may  every  one  of  our  souls  awake  to  faith  and  repent- 
ance, to  religion  and  righteousness,  to  hope  and  salva- 
tion, before  this  day  of  our  peace  be  finished  and  gone 
for  ever.  Psalm  ii.  12 ;  ICiss  the  Son  lest  he  be  angry, 
and  ye  perish  from  the  way,  wheii  his  wrath  is  kindled 


THE  WRATH  OF  THE  LAMB.  191 

but  a  little.  There  was  once  a  season  when  he  saw  the 
nation  of  the  Jews,  and  the  people  of  Jerusalem,  wasting 
the  proposals  of  his  love ;  they  let  their  day  of  mercy 
pass  away  unimproved,  and  he  foretold  their  destruction 
with  tears  in  his  eyes.  Luke  xix.  41,  42 ;  He  beheld 
the  city  and  wept  over  it,  alas,  for  the  inhabitants  who 
would  not  be  saved.  He  was  then  a  messenger  of  sal- 
vation, and  clothed  with  pity  to  sinners,  but  in  the  last 
great  day  of  his  wrath,  there  is  no  place  for  these  tears 
of  compassion,  no  room  for  pity  or  forgiveness. 

Remark  3.  When  we  preach  terror  to  obstinate  sin- 
ners, we  may  preach  Jesus  Christ  as  ivell  as  when  we 
preach  love  and  salvation  ;  for  he  is  the  minister  of  his 
Father^s  government,  both  in  vengeance  and  in  mercy. 
The  Lamb  hath  wrath  as  well  as  grace,  and  he  is  to  be 
feared  as  well  as  to  be  trusted  ;  and  he  ]must  be  repre- 
sented under  all  the  characters  of  d^grj;^y  to  wliich  he  is 
exalted,  that  knowing  the  isrrorS  of  the  Lord,  as  well  as 
the  compassion  of  the  Saviour,  we  may  persuade  sinful 
men  to  accept  of  salvation  and  happiness. 


DISCOURSE  VL 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS ; 

OR,    A    MEDITATION    ON    THE    ROCKS,    NEAR    TUJ^BRIDGB 
WELLS.      1729. 

REV.  vi.  15,  16, 17. 

^Ind  the  kings  of  tJie  earth,  and  the  great  men,  and  the 
rich  men,  8^c.  hid  themselves  in  the  dens,  and  in  the 
rocks  of  the  mountains,  and  said  to  the  rocks  and 
moimtains,  fall  on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of 
him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of 
the  Lamb. 

IN  the  former  discourse  on  this  text,  we  have  taken 
a  survey  of  these  two  persons  and  their  characters, 
God  and  the  Lamb,  whose  united  wrath  spreads  so  ter- 
rible a  scene  through  the  world  at  the  great  judgment- 
day  ;  we  have  also  inquired,  and  found  sufficient  reasons, 
why  the  anger  and  justice  of  God  should  be  so  severe 
against  the  sinful  sons  and  daughters  of  men,  who  have 
wilfully  broken  his  law,  and  refused  the  grace  of  his 
gospel ;  and  why  the  indignation  of  the  Son  of  God 
should  be  superadded  to  all  the  terrors  of  his  Father's 
vengeance. 

We  are  now  come  to  the  third  and  last  general  head 
of  discourse ;  and  that  is  to  consider.  How  vain  will  all 
the  refuges  and  hopes  of  sinners  be  found  in  that  dreadful 
day,  when  God  and  the  Lamb  shall  join  to  manifest  their 
wrath  and  indignation  against  them. 

These  hopes,  and  shifts,  and  refuges  of  rebellious  and 
guilty  creatures,  are  represented  by  a  noble  image  and 
description  in  my  text.     They  shall  call  to  the  rocks  and 


';'  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS.  103 

the  mountains  to  fall  upon  them,  and  to  cover  them  from 
the  face  of  him  that  sits  upon  the  throyie,  and  from  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb.  As  this  address  to  mountains  and 
to  rocks  appears  to  be  but  a  vain  hope  in  extreme  dis- 
tress, when  a  feeble  and  helpless  criminal  is  pursued  by 
a  swift  and  mighty  avenger,  so  vain  and  fruitless  shall 
all  the  hopes  of  sinners  be,  to  escape  the  just  indignation 
and  sentence  of  their  Judge.  In  order  to  shew  the  van- 
ity of  all  the  refuges  and  sliifts  to  which  sinners  shall 
betake  themselves  in  that  day,  let  us  spread  abroad  this 
sacred  description  of  them  in  a  paraphrase  under  the 
following  heads. 

1.  Let  us  consider  the  rocks  and  mountains^  as  vast 
and  mighty  created  beings,  of  huge  figure,  and  high 
appearance,  whose  aid  is  sought  in  the  last  extremity  of 
distress  ;  and  what  is  this  but  calling  upon  creatures  to 
help  them  against  their  Creator  ?  What  is  it  but  flying 
to  creatures  to  deliver  and  save  them,  when  their  of- 
fended God  resolves  to  punisli  ?  A  vain  refuge  indeed, 
when  God,  the  Almighty  Maker  of  all  things,  and  Jesus 
his  Son,  by  whom  all  things  were  made,  shall  agi'ee  to 
arise  and  go  forth  against  them,  in  their  robes  of  judg- 
ment, and  with  their  artillery  of  vengeance  !  What 
created  being  dares  interpose  in  that  hour  to  shelter  or 
defend  a  condemned  criminal  ?  What  high  and  mighty 
creature  is  able  to  afford  the  least  security  or  protection? 

The  princes  of  the  earth,  and  the  captains,  the  kings, 
and  heroes,  and  conquerers,  with  all  their  millions  of 
armed  men,  are  not  able  to  lift  a  hand,  for  the  defence  of 
one  sinner,  against  the  anger  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 
They  themselves  shall  quake  and  shiver  at  the  tre- 
mendous sight,  and  they  shall  fly  inio  the  holes  of  the 
rocks  like  mere  cowards,  and  shall  join  their  outcries 
with  the  poor  and  the  slave,  entreating  the  rocks  and 
mountains  to  befriend  them  with  shelter  and  safety. 

Not  the  highest  mounlains^   not  the  hardest  or  the 
3i5 


194  THE  VAIN  REFUGK  OF  SINNERS. 

strongest  rocks,  not  the  most  exalted  or  most  powerful 
persons,  or  things  in  nature  can  defend,  when  the  God 
of  nature  resolves  to  destroy.  When  he  who  is  higher 
than  the  highest,  and  stronger  than  the  strongest,  shall 
pronounce  destruction  upon  rebels,  what  creature  can 
speak  deliverance  ? 

The  rocks  and  the  mountains  obey  tlieir  Maker,  they 
shiver  in  pieces  at  the  word  of  his  wrath,  and  will  yield 
no  relM  to  criminals.  But  man,  rebellious  man  diso- 
beys his  Maker,  and  calls  to  the  rocks  and  mountains 
to  protect  him.  Vain  hope,  O  sinner,  to  make  the 
most  exalted  creatures  your  friends,  when  God  the  Cre- 
ator is  your  enemy.  These  inanimate  things  have  never 
learnt  disobedience  to  their  Maker,  and  rather  than 
screen  a  rebel  from  his  deserved  judgments,  they  will 
offer  themselves  as  instruments  of  divine  vengeance. 

S.  Rocks  and  mountains  in  their  cliffs,  and  dens,  and 
caverns,  are  sometimes   considered  as  places  of  secrecy 
and  concealment.     My  text  tells   us,   that   kings  and 
mighty  men,  the  rich  and  the  free  man,  as  well  as   the 
poor  and  the  slave,  hid  themselves  in  dens,   and  in    the 
rocks  of  the  mountains.     Tliey  hoped  there   might  be 
some  secret  corner,  whose  thick  shadows  and  darkness 
were  sufficient  to  iiide  them,  wliere  the  Judge  might  not 
spy  or  find  them  out.     Vain  hope  for  sinners  to  hide  in 
the  holes  of  the  rocks,   and  the   deepest  caverns  of  the 
mountains,  to  escape  the  notice  of  that  God,  who  is  all 
eye  and  ear,  and  present  at  once  in  every  place  of  earth 
and  heaven  !  Foolish  expectation  indeed,   to   avoid  the 
notice  of  the  Son  of  God,  ivlwse  eyes  are  as  a  flame  of 
fire,  and  slioot  through  the  earth  and  its  darkest  caves. 
Read  the  1.39th  Psalm,  O  sinner,  and   tlien  think  if 
it  be  possible  to  liee  from  the  eye  of  God,  and  to  hide 
thyself  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  where  his  hand  sliall 
not  find  thee. — He  has  n\Yea.dj  beset  thee  behind  and  be- 
fore, and  hl!<:  liand  already  compasses  thee  round  about 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OP  SINNERS.  195 

ill  all  thy  paths.  Darkness  itself  cannot  cover  thee ; 
the  night  shines  as  the  day  before  him,  and  scatters  light 
round  about  the  criminal  that  would  hide  himself  from 
the  wrath  of  God.  Ask  Jeremy  the  prophet,  and  he 
shall  tell  thee^  that  none  can  hide  himself  in  secret 
places  where  God  shall  not  see  hirriy  the  God  who  Jills 
heaven  and  earth  ;  Jer.  xxiii.  4.  He  shall  hunt  obsti- 
nate sinners  from  every  mountain,  and  out  of  the  holes 
of  the  rocks  ;  for  his  eyes  are  upon  all  their  ways, 
neither  their  persons,  nor  their  iniquities,  can  be  hid 
from  him. 

And  as  you  can  never  conceal  yourselves  from  the 
sight  and  notice  of  the  Judge,  so  neither  can  you  turn 
your  eyes  away  from  him  :  you  must  behold  his  face 
in  vengeance,  and  endure  the  distressing  sight.  The 
rays  of  his  Majesty,  in  the  day  of  his  wrath,  shall  strike 
through  all  the  crannies  of  the  darkest  den,  and  pierce 
the  deepest  shade.  ^'  Lord,  when  tliy  hantl  is  lifted  up 
they  will  not  see ;  but  they  shall  see  and  be  ashamed ;'" 
Isa.  xxvi.  10.  And  the  face  of  the  Lamb  must  be  seen 
in  all  its  unknown  terrors.  Rev.  i.  7 ;  Behold  he  comes 
in  the  clouds,  aud  every  eye  shall  see  him.  The  guilty 
creature,  and  the  divine  Avenger,  shall  meet  eye  to  eye, 
though  the  creature  has  hid  himself  under  rocks  and 
mountains. 

3.  These  rocks  and  mountains  are  designed  to  repre- 
sent, not  only  concealment  and  darkness  by  their  holes 
and  caverns,  but  they  are  known  hulicarks  of  defence, 
and  i^laces  of  security  and  shelter,  hy  reason  of  their 
strength  and  thickness.  When  the  prophet  would  ex~ 
press  the  safety  of  the  man  who  practises  righteousness 
in  a  vicious  age  ;  Isaiah  xxxiii.  16  ;  he  says.  He  shall 
dwell  on  high,  his  place  of  defence  shall  he  a  munition  of 
rocks.  These  shall  be  a  bulwark  round  him  for  his 
guard  aud  safety.  When  sinners  therefore  flee  to  the 
mountains,  and  to  the  rocks,  they  may  be  supposed  to 


196  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OP  SINNERS. 

seek  a  thick  covering,  or  a  shield  of  defence  to  secure 
tliem,  where  the  strokes  of  diviite  anger  shall  not  break 
through  and  reach  them.  They  trust  to  the  solid  pro- 
tection of  the  rocks,  and  the  strength  of  the  mountains  to 
guard  them  ;  but  these,  alas  !  can  yield  no  shelter  from 
the  stroke  of  the  arm  of  God.  Should  the  rocks,  O 
sinners,  attempt  to  befriend  thee,  and  surround  thee  with 
their  thickest  fortification,  his  wrath  would  cleave  them 
asunder,  and  pierce  thee  to  the  soul,  with  greater  ease 
than  thou  canst  break  through  a  paper  wall  with  the 
battering  engines  of  war.  Ask  the  Prophet  Nahum,  who 
was  acquainted  with  the  majesty  of  God,  and  he  shall  tell 
thee,  how  it  throws  doivn  the  mountain,  and  tears  the 
rock  in  pieces.  When  his  fury  is  poured  out  like  fire, 
the  mountains  quake  at  him,  the  hills  melt,  the  earth  is 
burnt  at  his  presence,  icith  all  that  dwell  therein.  He 
that  has  his  way  in  the  whirlwind  and  in  the  storm,  and 
the  clouds  are  the  dust  of  his  feet.  What  mountain 
can  stand  before  his  indignation  P  And  where  is  the  rock 
that  can  abide  in  the  fierceness  of  his  anger  P  Nahum  i. 
2. — 6.  Were  the  whole  globe  of  the  earth  one  massy 
rock,  and  should  it  yawn  to  the  very  centre  to  give  thee 
a  refuge  and  hiding  place,  and  then  close  again  and 
surround  thee  with  its  solid  defence,  yet,  when  the  Lord 
commands,  the  earth  will  obey  the  voice  of  him  that 
made  it ;  this  solid  earth  would  cleave  again  and  resign 
the  guilty  prisoner,  and  yield  thee  up  to  the  sword  of 
his  justice.  Wheresoever  a  God  resolves  to  strike, 
safety  and  defence  are  impossible  things.  The  sinner 
must  suifer  without  remedy,  and  without  hope,  who  has 
provoked  an  Almighty  God,  and  awakened  the  wrath 
of  that  Saviour  who  can  subdue  all  things  to  himself 

4.  Rocks  and  mountains  falling  upon  us  are  instru- 
ments of  sudden  and  overwhelmning  death.  When  sinners 
therefore  call  to  the  rocks  and  mountains  to  fall  upon 
them  and  cover  them,  tliey  are  supposed  to  endeavor  to 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS.  197 

put  an  end  ^o  their  own  beings  by  some  overwhelmning 
destruction,  that  they  may  not  live  to  feel  and  endure 
the  resentments  of  an  affronted  God,  and  an  abused  Sa- 
viour. Though  they  are  just  raised  to  life,  they  would 
fain  die  again  ;  but  God,  who  calls  the  dead  from  their 
graves,  will  forbid  the  rocks  and  the  mountains,  and 
every  creature,  to  lend  sinners  their  aid  to  destroy  them- 
selves. Sinners,  in  that  dreadful  day,  shall  seek  death, 
hut  death  shall  flee  from  them.  Their  natures  are  now 
made  immortal,  and  the  fall  of  rocks  and  mountains 
cannot  crush  them  to  death.  They  must  live  to  sustain 
the  weight  of  divine  wrath,  which  is  heavier  than  rocks 
and  mountains. 

The  life  which  God  hath  now  given  to  men  in  this 
mortal  state,  may  be  given  up  again,  or  thrown  away  by 
the  daring  impiety  of  self  murder  ;  and  they  may  make 
many  creatures  instruments  of  their  own  destruction  ; 
but  the  life  which  the  Son  of  God  shall  give  them,  when 
he  calls  them  from  the  dead,  is  everlasting  ;  they  can- 
not resign  their  existence  and  immortality,  they  cannot 
part  with  it,  nor  can  any  creature  take  it  from  them. 
They  would  rather  die  than  see  God  in  his  majesty,  or 
the  Lamb  arrayed  in  his  robe  of  judgment  ;  but  the 
wretches  are  immortalized  to  punishment,  by  the  long 
abused  majesty  and  power  of  God.  And  they  must 
live  for  ever  to  learn  what  it  is  to  despise  the  authority 
of  a  God,  and  to  abuse  the  grace  of  a  Saviour.  Their 
doom  is  everlasting  burnings.  They  have  no  rest  day 
nor  night,  the  smoke  of  their  torment  will  ascend  for 
ever  and  ever,  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Lamb  ;  Rev.  xiv.  10,  11. 

Thus  have  we  considered  those  huge  and  bulky  be- 
ings, the  rocks  and  the  mountains,  in  all  their  vast  and 
mighty  figures  and  appearances,  with  all  their  clefts,  and 
dens,  and  caverns,  for  shelter  and  concealment,  with  all 
their  fortification  and  massy  thickness  for  defence,   and 


198 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS. 


with  all  their  power  to  crush  and  destroy  mankind,  and 
yet  we  find  them  utterly  insufficient  to  hide,  cover,  or 
protect  guilty  creatures,  in  that  great  day  of  the  wrath 
of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  THE    FOREGOING    DISCOURSE. 

1.  How  strangely  do  all  the  appearances  of  Christ  to 
sinners,  in  the  several  seasons  and  dispensations  of  his 
grace  J  differ  from  that  last  great  and  solemn  appearance, 
which  to  them  will  he  a  dispensation  of  final  vengeance. 
He  visited  the  world  in  divine  visions  of  old,  even  from 
the  day  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  and  it  was  to  reveal  mercy 
to  sinful  man  ;  and  he  sometimes  assumed  the  majesty 
of  God,  to  let  the  world  know  he  was  not  to  be  trifled 
with.  He  visited  the  earth  at  liis  incarnation.  How 
lowly  was  his  state  !  How  full  of  grace  his  ministry  ! 
Yet  he  then  gave  notice  of  tliis  day  of  vengeance,  when 
he  should  appear  in  his  own  and  his  Father's  most 
awful  glories. 

He  visits  the  nations  now  with  the  w  ord  of  salvation, 
lie  appears  in  the  glass  of  his  gospel,  and  in  the  ordi- 
nances of  his  sanctuary,  as  a  Saviour  whose  heart  melts 
with  love ;  and  in  the  language  of  his  tenderest  com- 
passions, and  of  his  dying  groans,  he  invites  sinners  to 
be  reconciled  to  an  offended  God.  He  appears  as  a 
Lamb  made  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  as  a  minister  of  his 
Father's  mercy,  offering  and  distributing  pardons  to 
criminals.  But  when  he  visits  the  world  as  a  final 
judge,  how  solemn  and  illustrious  will  that  appearance 
be  ?  How  terrible  his  countenance  to  all  those  who 
have  refused  to  receive  him  as  a  Saviour  ?  Behold  he 
Cometh  in  fiaming  fire,  with  ten  thousand  of  his  angels, 
to  render  vengeance  to  them  that  resisted  his  grace,  and 
disobeyed  the  invitation  of  his  gospel ;  2  Thess.  i.  7- 

Time  was,  when  the  Father  sent  forth  his  Son,  not  to 
condemn  the  world,  hut  that  through  him  the  world  might 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OP  SINNERS.  199 

have  life  ;  John  iii.  17-  But  the  time  is  coming,  when 
God  shall  send  him  arrayed  with  majesty,  and  with 
righteous  indignation,  to  condemn  the  rebellious  world, 
and  inflict  upon  them  the  pains  of  eternal  death.  Hast 
thou  seen  him,  O  my  soul,  in  the  discoveries  of  his 
mercy,  fly  to  him  with  all  the  wings  of  faith  and  love, 
with  all  the  speed  of  desire  and  joy,  fly  to  him  ;  receive 
his  grace,  and  accept  of  his  salvation,  that  when  the  day 
of  the  wrath  of  tlie  Lamb  shall  appear,  thou  mayest 
behold  his  countenance  without  terror  and  confusion. 

Reflection  2.  How  very  different  will  the  thoughts  of 
sinners  he  in  that  day,  from  what  they  are  at  present  P 
How  different  their  wishes  and  their  inclinations  ?  And 
that  with  regard  to  this  one  terror,  which  my  text  des- 
cribes, viz.  that  they  shall  address  themselves  to  the 
rocks  and  mountains  for  shelter,  and  fly  into  the  dens 
and  caverns  of  the  earth  for  concealment  and  safety. 
Let  us  survey  this  in  a  few  particulars. 

Sinners  whose  loolcs  were  once  lofty  and  disdainful^ 
whose  eyes  were  exalted  in  pride,  their  mouth  set 
against  the  lieavens,  and  their  hearts  haughty  and  full 
of  scorn,  they  shall  be  liumbled  to  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
they  shall  creep  into  tlie  hiding  places  of  the  moles  and 
the  bats,  and  thrust  their  heads  into  holes  and  caverns, 
and  dens  of  desolation,  at  the  appearance  of  God  their 
Creator  in  flaming  fire,  and  the  Son  of  God  their  Judge  ; 
for  he  is  the  avenger  of  his  own,  and  his  Father's  in- 
jured honors. 

Sinners  who  were  once  fond  of  their  idols,  and  their 
sensual  delights,  who  made  idols  to  themselves  of  every 
agreeable  creature,  and  gave  it  that  place  in  their  hearts 
which  belongs  only  to  God,  they  shall  be  horribly  con- 
founded in  that  day,  when  God  shall  appear  in  his 
majesty,  to  shake  the  earth  to  the  centre,  and  to  burn 
the  surface  of  it  with  all  its  bravery.  Tliis  is  nobly 
described  by  the  prophet  Tsaiah.  chap.  Sd,  from  10 — 2i. 


SOO  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS. 

^^In  that  day  shall  a  man  cast  his  idols  of  silver,  and 
his  idols  of  gold,  which  they  made,  eacli  one  for  himself 
to  worship,  to  the  moles  and  to  the  bats,  to  go  into  the 
clefts  of  the  rock,  and  into  the  tops  of  the  ragged  rocks, 
for  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  glory  of  his  majesty, 
when  he  ariseth  to  shake  terribly  the  earth." 

Sinners  who  once  could  not  tell  how  to  spend  a  day 
without  gay  company  J  those  sons  and  daughters  of  mirth, 
who  turned  their  midnights  into  noon,  with  the  splendor 
of  their  lamps,  and  the  rich  and  shining  furniture  of 
their  palaces,  those  noisy  companions  of  riot,  who  made 
the  streets  of  the  city  resound  with  their  midnight  revels, 
they  shall  now  fly  to  the  solitary  caverns  of  the  rocks, 
and  would  be  glad  to  dwell  tliere  in  darkness  and 
silence  for  ever,  if  tliey  might  but  avoid  the  wrath  of  a 
provoked  God,  and  the  countenance  of  an  abused  Sav- 
iour. They  would  fain  be  shut  up  for  ever  from  day- 
light, lest  they  should  see  the  face  of  an  almighty  en- 
emy, whose  name  and  honor  have  been  reproached  in 
their  songs  of  lewd  jollity  and  profaneness. 

Sinners  who  once  weie  fond  of  liberty  in  the  wildest 
sense,  and  could  not  bear  that  any  restraints  should  be 
laid  upon  their  persons  or  tlieir  wishes,  who  never  could 
endure  the  thought  of  a  confinement  to  their  closets  for 
one  half  hour,  to  converse  with  God,  or  with  their  own 
souls  there,  they  now  call  aloud  to  the  rocks  and  the 
mountains  to  immure  them  round,  as  a  refuge  from  the 
eye  of  their  Judge.  They  were  once  perpetually  roving 
abroad,  and  gadding  tlirougli  all  the  gay  scenes  of  sen- 
snality,  in  quest  of  new  and  flowery  pleasures  ;  but  now 
they  beg  to  be  imprisoned  for  ever,  in  the  dens  and 
caves  of  tlie  earth ;  the  deepest  and  most  dismal  caves 
are  their  most  ardent  wishes,  that  they  might  never  see 
the  countenance  of  their  divine  Avenger,  nor  feel  the 
weight  of  his  hand. 

Sinners  who  heretofore  thought  themselves  and  their 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OP  SINNERS.  201 

deeds  of  darkness  secure  enough  from  the  eye  of  God, 
and  from  the  strokes  of  his  justice,  while  they  reveled 
in  their  common  habitations,  those,  who  even  under  the 
open  sky,  could  defy  the  Almighty,  could  laugh  at  his 
threaten ings,  and  mock  the  prophecies  of  his  vengeance, 
now  they  can  find  no  caverns  deep  or  dark  enough  to 
hide  them  from  his  sight.  His  lightnings  penetrate  the 
hardest  rocks,  and  shine  into  the  deepest  solitudes. 
There  is  no  screen  or  shelter  thick  and  strong  enough 
to  stand  between  God  and  them,  and  to  cover  and  shield 
tlieni  from  his  thunder.  They  call  now  to  the  moun- 
tains and  the  rocks  to  be  an  eternal  screen  ;  but  the 
rocks  and  the  mountains  are  deaf  to  their  cry.  Then 
shall  they  remember,  with  unknown  regret  and  anguish, 
those  days  of  grace,  when  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  now 
their  Judge,  offered  himself  to  become  a  screen  to  them, 
and  a  defence  from  the  anger  of  God  their  Creator. 
But  they  rejected  this  offered  grace.  He  would  have 
been  the  rock  of  their  safety,  where  they  should  have 
found  refuge  from  the  fiery  threatenings  of  the  broken 
law,  and  the  majesty  of  an  offended  God.  The  Father 
himself  had  appointed  him  for  this  kind  oflBce  to  repent- 
ing sinners ;  and  perhaps  lie  gave  Moses  a  type  or 
emblem  of  it,  when  he  commanded  himself  to  hide  in  the 
clefts  of  the  rock,  to  secure  him  from  destruction,  while 
the  burning  blaze  of  his  glory  passed  by  ;  Exod.  xxxiii. 
22.  And  Isaiah,  the  prophet,  had  foretold,  that  this 
Jesus  should  be  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock,  to  shelter 
them  from  the  beams  of  the  wrath  of  God ;  but  they 
refused  this  blessing,  they  renounced  this  refuge  ;  and 
now  they  find  there  is  no  other  rock  sufficient  to  become 
a  shelter  from  the  stroke  of  his  almighty  arm,  or  a  suffi- 
cient shadow  from  tlie  burning  vengeance. 

Sinners  who  once  over  rated  their  flesh  and  blood,  and 
loved  it  with  infinite  fondness,  who  treated  their  fleshly 
appetites  with  excessive  nicety  and  elegance,  and  affected 
26 


SOS  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS. 

a  humorous  delicacy  in  every  thing  round  ahout  thein. 
would  now  gladly  creep  into  the  mouldy  caverns  of  the 
rocks,  they  would  be  glad  to  hide  and  defile  themselves 
in  the  dark  and  noisome  grottos  of  the  earth,  and 
squeese  their  bodies  into  the  rough  and  narrow  clefts,  to 
shield  themselves  from  the  indignation  of  him  tliat  sits 
upon  the  throne,  and  of  the  Lamb. 

Those  who  once  icere  so  tender  of  this  mortal  life  and 
limhs,  and  could  not  think  of  bearing  the  least  hardship 
for  the  sake  of  virtue  and  piety,  are  now  wishing  to  have 
those  delicate  limbs  of  theirs  crushed  by  the  fall  of  rocks 
and  mountains.  They  wish  earnestly  to  have  their  lives 
and  their  souls  destroyed  for  ever,  and  their  whole  na- 
tures buried  in  desolation  and  death,  if  they  might  but 
avoid  the  eternal  agonies  and  torments  that  are  prepared 
for  them.  Now  they  long  for  caverns  and  graves,  to 
hide  them  for  ever  from  the  justice  of  God,  whose  author- 
ity they  have  despised,  and  from  the  wrath  of  a  Saviour, 
whose  mercy  they  have  impiously  renounced. 

Look  forward,  O  my  soul,  to  this  awful  and  dreadful 
hour ;  survey  this  tremendous  scene  of  confusion,  when 
sinners  shall  run  counter  to  all  their  former  principles 
and  wishes,  and  pass  a  quite  different  judgment  upon 
their  sinful  delights,  from  what  they  were  wont  to  do  in 
the  days  of  this  life  of  vanity.  Learn,  O  my  soul,  to 
judge  of  things  more  agreeably  to  the  appearances  of 
that  day.  Never  canst  thou  set  the  flattering  pleasures 
of  sense,  and  the  joys  of  sin,  in  a  truer  and  juster  view, 
than  in  the  light  of  this  glorious  and  tremendous  judg- 
ment. 

Reflection  3.  How  great  and  dreadful  must  the  dis- 
tress of  creatures  be,  when  they  cannot  hear  to  see  the 
face  of  God  their  Creator  P  How  terrible  must  be  the 
circumstances  of  the  sons  of  men,  when  they  cannot 
endure  to  see  the  face  of  the  Son  of  God,  but  would  fsiin 
hide  themselves  from  the  si2;ht,  under  rocks  and  mouu- 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS.  20B 

tains  ?  How  wretched  must  their  state  be,  who  avoid 
the  face  of  the  blessed  God  with  horror,  which  the  holy 
angels  ever  behold  with  most  intense  delight,  and  which 
the  saints  rejoice  in,  as  their  highest  happiness  ?  It  is 
their  heaven  to  see  God,  and  behold  the  glory  of  his 
Son  Jesus  ;  Matt.  v.  8,  John  xvii.  But  this  is  the  very 
hell  of  sinners  in  that  dismal  hour,  and  will  till  their 
souls  with  such  inexpressible  anguish,  that  they  call  to 
the  rocks  and  mountains  to  hide  them  from  the  sight. 
Dreadful  and  deplorable  is  their  case  indeed,  who  can- 
not endure  to  see  the  countenance  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of 
God,  Jesus,  the  Saviour  of  men,  the  copy  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  image  of  his  beauty  and  love.  They 
cannot  bear  to  see  that  Jesus  who  is  the  chiefest  of  ten 
thousands,  and  altogether  lovely  ;  they  fly  from  that 
blessed  countenance,  which  is  the  ornament  and  the  joy 
of  all  the  holy  and  happy  creation.  That  blessed  coun- 
tenance is  become  the  terror  and  confusion  of  impenitent 
and  guilty  rebels* 

And  what  shall  I  do,  if  I  should  be  found  amongst 
this  criminal  number,  in  that  great  day  ?  If  I  look  at 
the  wisdom  and  the  righteousness  of  God,  these  will 
reflect  the  keenest  rays  of  horror  and  anguish  upon  my 
soul,  for  it  is  that  wisdom,  and  that  righteousness,  that 
have  joined  to  prepare  the  salvation  which  I  have  re- 
jected ;  and  therefore,  now  that  wise  and  righteous  God 
seeth  it  proper  and  necessary  to  punish  me  with  ever- 
lasting sorrows.  If  I  look  at  the  power  of  God,  it  is  a 
dreadful  sight.  Eternal  and  almighty  power,  that  can 
break  through  rocks  and  mountains,  to  inflict  vengeance 
upon  the  guilty,  and  stands  engaged  by  his  honor,  to 
break  my  rebellious  spirit,  with  unknown  torments.  If 
I  look  at  his  goodness  or  his  love,  it  is  love  and  goodness 
that  I  have  despised  and  abused  ;  and  it  is  now  changed 
into  divine  fury.  If  I  look  at  the  face  of  Jesus,  and 
find  there  the  correspondent  features  of  his  Father,  I 


S04«  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNEKS. 

shall  then  hate  to  see  it — for  this  very  reason,  because 
it  bears  his  Father's  image,  who  is  so  terrible  to  my 
thoughts.     I  shall  neither  be  able  to  bear  the  sight  of 
God,  or  of  his  fairest  copy,  that  is,  Jesus  his  Son,  because 
I   am  so  shamefully   unlike  them  both ;  and   besides, 
I  have  affronted  their  majesty,  and  despised  their  mercy. 
How  painful  and  smarting  will  be  the  reflection  of  my 
heart  in  that  day,  when  I  shall   remember  that  Jesus 
called  out  to  me  fi-om  heaven,  by  the  messengers  of  his 
grace,  and  said.  Behold  me,  behold  me,  look  unto  me 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  be  saved.     But  now  he 
is  armed  with  a  commission  of  vengeance,  and  he  strikes 
terror  and  exquisite  pain  into  my  soul  with  every  frown, 
so  that  I  shall  wish  to  be  for  ever  hid  from  the  face  of 
the  Lamb,  for  the  great  day  of  his  ivrath  is  come,  and, 
who  shall  be  able  to  endure  this  wrath,  to  stand  before 
his  thunder,  or  bear  the  lightning  of  this  day  ?     Alas  ! 
how  miserable  must  I  be  by  an  everlasting  necessity,  if 
I  cannot  bear  the  countenance  of  God  and  Christ,  which 
is  the  spring  of  unchangeable  happiness  to  all  the  saints 
and  the  blessed  angels  ?     O  may  I  timely  secure  the  love 
of  my  God,  and  gain  an  interest  in  the  favor  and  salva- 
tion of  the  blessed  Jesus  !     Here,  O  Lord,  at  thy  foot, 
I  lay  down  all  the  Aveapons  of  my  former  rebellions  ; 
I  implore  thy  love  through  the  interest  of  thy  Son,  the 
great  Mediator.     Let  me  see  the  light  of  thy  countenance, 
and  the   smiles  of  thy  face.     Let  me  see  a  reconciled 
God,  and  let  him  tell  me  that  my  sins  are  all  forgiven  ; 
then  shall  I  not  be  afraid  to  meet  the  countenance  of 
him  that  sits  upon  the  throne,  or  the  Lamb,  when  Christ 
shall  return  fi'om  heaven,  to  punish  the  impenitent  rebels 
against  divine  grace. 

Reflection  4.  Hoic  hopeless,  as  well  as  distressed,  is 
the  case  of  sinners  in  that  day,  when  they  are  driven  to 
this  last  extremity,  to  seek  help  from  the  rocks  and  the 
mountains  P    It  is  the  last,  but  the  fruitless  refuge  of  a 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS.  205 

frighted  and  perishing  creature.  The  rocks  and  moun- 
tains refuse  to  help  them.  They  will  not  crush  to  death 
those  wretches,  whom  the  justice  of  God  has  doomed  to 
a  painful  immortality,  nor  will  they  conceal  or  shelter 
those  obstinate  rebels,  whom  the  Son  of  God  has  raised 
out  of  their  graves,  to  be  exposed  to  public  shame  and 
punishment.  Those  high  and  hollow  rocks,  those  dis- 
mal dens  and  caverns,  dark  as  midnight,  those  deep  and 
gloomy  retreats  of  melancholy  and  sorrow,  which  they 
shunned  with  utmost  aversion,  and  could  hardly  bear  to 
think  of  them  without  horror  here  on  earth,  are  now  be- 
come their  only  retreat  and  shelter ;  but  it  is  a  very  vain 
and  hopeless  one. 

When  I  see  such  awful  appearances  in  nature,  huge 
and  lofty  rocks  hanging  over  my  head,  and  at  every  step 
of  my  approach,  they  seem  to  nod  upon  me  with  over- 
whelming ruin ;  when  my  curiosity  searches  far  into 
their  hollow  clefts,  their  dark  and  deep  caverns  of  sol- 
itude and  desolation,  methinks  while  I  stand  amongst 
them,  1  can  hardly  think  myself  in  safety,  and  at  best 
they  give  a  sort  of  solemn  and  dreadful  delight.  Let  me 
improve  the  scene  to  religious  purposes,  and  raise  a 
divine  meditation.  Am  I  one  of  those  wretches,  who 
shall  call  to  these  huge,  impending  rocks  to  fall  upon 
me  ?  Am  I  that  guilty  and  miserable  creature,  who 
shall  entreat  these  mountains  to  cover  me  from  him  that 
sits  on  the  throne  and  the  Lamb  ?  Am  I  prepared  to 
meet  the  countenance  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  the  Judge  in 
that  day  ?  Have  I  such  an  acquaintance  with  the  Lamb 
of  God,  who  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  such  a 
holy  faith  in  his  mediation,  such  a  sincere  love  to  him, 
and  such  an  unfeigned  repentance  of  all  my  sins,  that  I 
can  look  upon  him  as  my  friend  and  my  refuge,  and  a 
friend  infinitely  better  than  rocks  and  mountains,  for  he 
not  only  screens  me  from  the  divine  anger,  but  introduces 


306  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS. 

me  into  the  Father's  love,  and  places  me  in  his  blissful 
presence  for  ever? 

Heflection  5.  JVJiat  hideous  and  everlasting  mischief 
is  contained  in  the  nature  of  sin,  especially  sin  against 
the  gospel  of  Christ,  against  the  methods  of  grace,  and 
the  offers  of  salvation,  which  exposes  creatures  to  such 
extreme  distress  f  The  fairest  and  the  most  ilattering 
iniquity,  what  beautiful  colours  soever  it  may  put  on  in 
the  hour  of  temptation,  yet  it  carries  all  this  hidden 
mischief  and  teiTor  in  the  bosom  of  it ;  for  it  frights  the 
creature  from  the  sight  of  his  Creator  and  liis  Saviour, 
and  makes  him  fly  to  every  vain  refuge.  Adam  and 
Eve,  the  parents  of  our  race,  when  tliey  lost  their  inno- 
cence and  became  criminals,  fled  from  the  presence  of 
God,  whom  they  conversed  witli  before  in  holy  friend- 
ship. Gen.  iii.  8  ;  Theij  hid  themselves  among  the  trees 
of  paradise,  and  tlie  thickest  shadows  of  the  garden ;  but 
the  eye  and  the  voice  of  God  reached  them  there.  The 
curse  found  them  out,  thougli  that  was  a  curse  allayed 
with  the  promised  blessing  of  a  Saviour.  Guilt  will 
work  in  the  conscience,  and  tell  us  that  God  is  angry, 
and  the  next  thought  is,  ichere  shall  I  hide  myself  from 
an  angry  God  P  But  when  the  mercy  of  God  has  taught 
us  where  we  may  hide  ourselves,  even  under  the  shadow 
of  the  cross  of  his  Son,  and  we  refuse  to  make  him  our 
refuge,  there  remains  nothing  but  a  final  horror  of  soul, 
and  a  hopeless  address  to  rocks  and  mountains,  to  liide 
us  from  an  offended  God,  and  a  provoked  Saviour. 

Whensoever,  O  my  soul,  thou  shalt  find  or  feel  some 
flattering  iniquity  alluring  thy  senses,  making  court  to 
thy  heart,  and  ready  to  gain  upon  thy  inward  wishes, 
remember  the  tlistress  and  terror  of  heart  that  sin- 
ners must  undergo  in  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  tlie 
Lord.  Think  of  the  rocks  and  mountains  which  they 
vainly  call  upon  to  befriend  them,  to  sliield  tliem  from 
the  vengeance  of  that  almighty  arm  which  is  provoked 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS.  207 

by  sin,  to  make  his  creatures  miserable.  Remember,  O 
my  soul,  and  fear  :  remember  and  resist  the  vile  tempt- 
ation, and  stand  afar  off  from  that  practice,  which  will 
make  thee  afraid  to  see  the  face  of  God. 

Reflection  6.  Of  what  injinite  im'portance  is  it  then 
to  sinners f  to  gain  a  humble  acquaintance  andfmendship 
with  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  takes  away  the  sins  of  the 
world,  that  ice  may  be  able  with  comfort,  to  behold  the 
face  of  him  that  sits  on  the  throne  in  that  day.  Which 
of  us  can  say,  I  am  not  a  sinner,  I  am  not  guilty  before 
God  F  And  which  of  us  then  has  the  courage  and  hard- 
ness to  declare,  I  have  no  need  of  a  Saviour  P  And  is 
there  any  one  amongst  us,  who  hath  not  yet  fled  for 
refuge  to  Jesus  our  only  and  suiRcient  hope  ?  There  is 
a  protection  provided  against  a  provoked  God,  but  there 
is  none  against  a  neglected  and  abused  Saviour ;  I  mean 
where  this  neglect  and  abuse  is  final  and  unrepented. 
O  how  solicitous  should  every  soul  be,  in  a  matter  of 
this  divine  moment,  tliis  everlasting  importance  ?  What 
words  of  compassion  shall  we  use,  what  words  of  awak- 
ening terror,  to  put  sinners  in  mind  of  their  extreme 
danger,  if  they  neglect  the  only  security  which  the  gospel 
has  appointed  ?  What  language  of  fear  and  importunity 
shall  we  make  use  of,  to  hasten  you,  O  sinners,  to  the 
acquaintance,  the  faith,  and  the  love  of  Jesus  the  Saviour, 
that  you  may  behold  his  face,  and  the  face  of  the  Father, 
with  serenity  and  joy  in  the  last  day  ?  Give  yourselves 
up  to  him  then  without  further  delay,  as  your  teacher, 
your  high  priest,  your  reconciler,  your  Lord  and  king. 
His  blessed  offices  are  the  only  chambers  of  protection, 
when  God  shall  arise  to  burn  the  world,  and  to  avenge 
himself  on  bis  enemies  that  will  not  be  reconciled. 

Reflection  7-  Let  us  take  occasion  from  my  text,  also 
to  meditate  on  the  happy  circumstances  of  true  chris- 
tians, in  that  day  of  terror.  Behold  the  Judge  appears, 
he  cometh  in  the  clouds,  surrounded  with  armies   of 


20H  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS. 

avenging  angels,  the  ministers  of  his  indignation;  he 
rideth  on  a  chariot  of  flaming  fire,  the  earth  with  all  its 
monntains  melt  like  wax  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  the 
fields  and  the  forests  become  one  spacious  blaze,  the  sea 
grows  dry  and  forsakes  its  shores,  and  rivers  flee  away 
at  his  lightning ;  the  rocks  are  broken  and  shivered  at 
the  appearance  of  his  majesty,  the  tombs  are  thrown 
open,  and  with  terrible  dismay  shall  the  graves  give  up 
their  dead  ;  the  pyramids  of  brick  and  stone,  moulder 
and  sink  into  dust,  the  sepulchres  of  brass  and  marble 
yield  up  their  royal  prisoners,  and  all  the  captives  of 
death  awake  and  start  into  life,  at  the  voice  of  the  Son 
of  Grod.  Amidst  all  these  scenes  of  surprise  and  liorror, 
with  how  serene  a  countenance,  and  how  peaceful  a  soul, 
do  the  saints  awake  from  their  beds  of  earth  ?  Calm  and 
serene  among  all  these  confusions  they  arise  from  their 
long  slumber,  and  go  to  meet  their  returning  Saviour  and 
their  friend.  They  have  seen  him  in  the  glass  of  his 
gospel,  submitted  to  his  laws,  and  rejoiced  in  his  grace, 
and  they  now  delight  to  see  him  face  to  face  in  his  glory. 
They  have  seen  him  vested  with  his  commission  of  mer- 
cy, they  have  heard  and  received  his  message  of  good- 
ness and  love,  and  they  cannot  but  rejoice  to  see  him 
coming  to  fulfil  his  last  promises.  Tiiey  have  cheer- 
fully subjected  themselves  to  his  government  here  on 
earth,  they  have  followed  him  in  paths  of  holiness, 
through  the  wilderness  of  this  world  ;  and  what  remains 
but  that  they  be  publickly  acknowledged  by  Jesus  the 
Judge  of  all,  and  follow  him  up  to  the  place  of  blessed- 
ness which  he  hath  prepared  for  them. 

Perhaps  some  of  tliese  holy  ones,  in  the  days  of  the 
flesh,  were  banished  from  the  cities  and  the  societies  of 
men  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  they  were  tlriven  out  from 
their  native  towns,  and  forced  to  seek  a  shelter  in  solita- 
ry dens  and  caves,  among  rocks  and  mountains,  to  wan- 
der through  deserts  in  sheep-sJcins  and goat-sJnns,  desti- 


THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS,  209 

tute,  afflicted,  tormented  ;  Heb.  xi.  31.  They  made 
the  clefts  of  the  rock  and  caverns  of  the  earth  their 
refuge  from  the  face  of  their  cruel  persecutors.  Tlie 
mountains  and  rocks  sheltered  them  from  the  wrath  of 
princes,  and  the  dark  grottos  of  the  earth,  and  the  dens 
of  wild  beasts,  concealed  them  fpom  the  rage  of  men, 
from  the  sword  of  the  mighty  ;  but  now  tlie  scene  is 
gloriously  changed ;  the  martyrs  and  holy  confessors 
awaking  from  their  graves,  exult  and  triumph  in  the 
smiles  of  their  Judge,  and  receive  public  honors  before 
the  whole  creation  of  God.  They  behold  the  infinite 
consternation  of  hauglity  tyrants  and  persecuting  princes, 
of  proud  generals,  and  bloody  captains  in  that  day. 
They  hear  them  call  to  rocks  and  mountains  to  hide  them 
from  the  face  of  him  that  sits  upon  the  throne  and  the 
Lamb.  The  authority  and  regal  honor  of  the  emperors 
of  the  earth,  liath  long  slept  in  the  dust ;  but  it  is  lost 
there  for  ever ;  tlieir  glory  shall  not  awake  nor  arise 
with  them.  Behold  the  mighty  sinners  who  have  been 
the  enemies  of  Christ,  or  negligent  of  his  salvation,  how 
they  creep  affrighted  out  of  their  shattered  marbles,  and 
leave  all  that  pomp  and  pride  of  death  in  ruins,  to  ap- 
pear before  God  with  shame  and  everlasting  contempt. 
The  men  of  arms,  the  captains  and  sons  of  valor,  whose 
swords  lay  under  their  heads,  with  their  tropliies  and 
titles  spread  around  them,  shall  raise  their  heads  up 
from  the  dust,  with  utmost  affright  and  anguish  of  spirit. 
Their  cour  ^e  fails  them  before  the  face  of  Jesus,  the 
Lord  and  Judge  of  the  whole  creation.  They  would 
fly  to  the  common  refuge  of  slaves,  they  shrink  into  the 
holes  of  the  rocks,  and  call  to  the  mountains  to  screen 
and  protect  them.  *^nd  every  bond-man,  and  every  free- 
man, who  have  not  known  nor  loved  God  and  Christ,  are 
plunged  into  extremest  distress  ;  but  the  humble  chris- 
tian is  serene  and  joyful,  and  lifts  up  his  head  with 
S7       "      ' 


310  THE  VAIN  REFUGE  OF  SINNERS. 

courage  and   delight,  in  the  midst  of  these  scenes  of 
astonishment  and  dismay. 

"  He  is  come,  he  is  come,  saith  the  saint,  even  that 
Lord  Jesus,  whom  I  have  seen,  whom  I  have  known  and 
loved  in  the  days  of  my  mortal  life,  whom  I  have  long 
waited  for  in  the  dust  of  death  ;  he  is  come  to  reward 
all  my  labors,  to  wipe  away  all  my  sorrows,  to  finish 
my  faith,  and  turn  it  into  sight,  to  fulfil  all  my  hopes 
and  his  own  promises ;  he  is  come  to  deliver  me  for 
ever,  from  all  my  enemies,  and  to  bear  me  to  the  place 
which  he  has  prepared  for  those  that  love  him,  and  long 
for  his  appearance. 

'^  0  blessed  be  the  God  of  grace,  who  hath  convinced 
me  of  the  sins  of  my  nature,  and  the  sins  of  my  life  in 
the  days  of  my  flesh  ;  who  hath  discovered  to  me  the  dan- 
ger of  a  guilty  and  sinful  state,  hath  shewn  me  the  com- 
mission of  mercy  in  the  hands  of  his  Son,  hath  pointed 
me  to  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  was  offered  as  a  sacrifice 
to  take  away  the  sins  of  men,  and  hath  inclined  me  to 
receive  him  in  all  his  divine  characters  and  offices,  and 
to  follow  the  captain  of  my  salvation  through  all  the 
labors  and  dangers  of  life.  I  have  trusted  him,  I  have 
loved  him,  I  have  endeavored,  though  under  many  frail- 
ties, to  honor  and  obey  hira,  and  I  can  now  behold  his 
face  without  terror.  While  the  mighty  men  of  the  earth 
tremble  with  amazement,  and  call  to  the  rocks  and 
mountains  to  hide  them  from  his  face,  I  rejoice  to  see 
him  in  his  robes  of  judgment,  for  he  is  come  to  pronounce 
me  righteous  in  the  face  of  men  and  angels,  to  declare 
me  a  good  and  faithful  servant  before  the  whole  creation, 
to  set  the  crown  of  victory  on  my  head,  to  take  me  to 
heaven  with  him,  that  where  he  is  I  may  be  also  to  be- 
hold his  glory,  and  to  partake  for  ever  of  the  blessings 
of  his  love"     Amen. 


DISCOURSE  VIL 

NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

REV.  xxii.  25. 
And  there  shall  he,  no  night  there. 

LENGTH  of  night  and  overspreading  darkness 
in  the  winter  season,  carries  so  many  inconveniences 
with  it,  that  it  is  generally  esteemed  a  most  uncomforta- 
ble part  of  our  time.  Though  night  and  day  necessarily 
succeed  each  other  all  the  year,  by  the  wise  appoint- 
ment of  God  in  the  course  of  nature,  by  means  of  the 
revolution  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  or  rather  of  this 
earthly  globe,  yet  the  night  season  is  neither  so  delight- 
ful nor  so  useful  a  part  of  life,  as  the  duration  of  day- 
light. It  is  the  voice  of  all  nature,  as  well  as  the  word 
of  Solomon,  light  is  sweet,  and  a  pleasant  thing  to  enjoy 
the  sun-beams.  Light  gives  a  glory  and  beauty  to  every 
thing  that  is  visible,  and  shews  the  face  of  nature  in  its 
most  agreeable  colours ;  but  night,  as  it  covers  all  the 
visible  world  with  one  dark  and  undistinguishing  vail,  is 
less  pleasing  to  all  the  animal  parts  of  the  creation. 
Therefore  as  hell  and  the  place  of  punishment  is  called 
utter  darkness  in  scripture,  so  heaven  is  represented  as 
a  mansion  of  glory,  as  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light.  And  this  light  is  constant  without  interruption, 
and  everlasting,  or  without  end.  So  my  text  expresses 
it,  there  shall  he  no  night  there. 

Let  it  be  observed,  that  in  the  language  of  the  holy 
writers,  light  is  often  ascribed  to  intellectual  beings,  and 
is  used  as  a  metaphor  to  imply  knowledge,  and  holiness, 
and  joy.    Knowledge  as  the  beauty  and  excellency  of 


22i  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

the  mind,  holivess  as  the  l)est  regulation  of  the  willf  and 
joy  as  the  harmony  of  our  best  afiections  in  the  posses- 
sion of  what  we  love.  And  in  opposition  to  these,  igno- 
rance, iniquity  and  sorrow,  are  represented  by  the  met- 
aphor of  darkness.  Then  we  are  in  darkness  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  when  the  understanding  is  beclouded  or 
led  into  mistake,  or  when  the  will  is  perverted  or  turn- 
ed away  from  God  and  holiness,  or  when  the  most  un- 
comfortable affections  prevail  in  the  soul.  I  might  rite 
particular  texts  of  scripture  to  exemplify  all  this.  And 
when  it  is  said,  there  shall  be  no  night  in  heaven,  it  may 
be  very  well  applied  in  the  spiritual  sense  ;  there  shall 
be  no  errors  or  mistakes  among  the  blessed,  no  such  ig- 
norance as  to  lead  them  astray,  or  to  make  them  uneasy; 
the  will  shall  never  be  turned  aside  from  its  pursuit  of 
holiness,  and  obedience  to  God  ;  nor  shall  the  affections 
ever  be  ruffled  with  any  thing  that  may  administer  grief 
and  pain.  Clear  and  unerring  knowledge,  unspotted 
holiness,  and  everlasting  joy,  shall  be  the  portion  of  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  upper  world.  These  are  more 
common  subjects  of  discourse. 

But  I  choose  rather  at  present  to  consider  this  word 
night,  in  its  literal  sense,  and  shall  endeavor  to  repre- 
sent part  of  the  blessedness  of  the  heavenly  state,  under 
this  special  description  of  it.     There  is  no  night  there. 

Now  in  order  to  pursue  this  design,  let  us  take  a 
brief  survey  of  the  several  evils  or  inconveniences  which 
attend  the  night,  or  the  season  of  darkness  here  on  earth, 
and  shew  how  far  the  heavenly  world  is  removed,  and 
free  from  all  manner  of  inconvenience  of  this  kind. 

1.  Though  night  be  the  season  of  sleep  for  the  relief 
of  nature,  and  for  our  refreshment  after  the  labors  of  the 
day,  yet  it  is  a  certain  sign  of  the  weakness  and  weari- 
7iess  of  nature  when  it  wants  such  refreshments,  and  such 
dark  seasons  of  relief  But  there  is  no  night  in  heaven. 
Say,  0  ye  inhabitants  of  that  vital  world,  are  ye  ever 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN.  313 

weary  ?  Do  your  natures  know  any  such  weakness  ?  Or 
are  your  holy  labors  of  such  a  kind  as  to  expose  you  to 
fatigue,  or  to  tire  your  spirits?  The  blessed  above  mount 
up  toivards  God  as  on  eagles  wings^  they  run  at  the 
command  of  God  and  are  not  weary^  they  walk  on  the 
hills  of  paradise  and  never  faint,  as  the  Prophet  Isaiah 
expresses  a  vigorous  and  pleasurable  state  ;  chap.  xl. 
verse  last. 

There  are  no  such  animal  bodies  in  heaven,  whose 
natural  springs  of  action  can  be  exhausted  or  weakened 
by  the  business  of  the  day.  There  is  no  flesh  and 
blood  there,  to  complain  of  weariness,  and  to  want  rest. 
O  blessed  state,  where  our  faculties  shall  be  so  happily 
suited  to  our  work,  that  we  shall  never  feel  ourselves 
weary  of  it,  nor  fatigued  by  it. 

And  as  there  is  no  weariness,  so  there  is  no  sleeping 
there.  Sleep  was  not  made  for  the  heavenly  state. 
Can  the  spirits  of  the  just  ever  sleep,  under  the  full 
blaze  of  divine  glory,  under  the  incessant  communica- 
tions of  divine  love,  under  the  perpetual  influences  of  the 
grace  of  God  the  Father,  and  of  Jesus  the  Saviour,  and 
amidst  the  inviting  confluence  of  every  spring  of  bles- 
sedness. 

3.  Another  inconvenience  of  night,  near  akin  to  the 
former,  is,  that  business  is  interrupted  by  it,  partly  for 
want  of  light  to  perform  it,  as  ivell  as  for  want  of 
strength  and  spirits  to  pursue  it.  This  is  constantly 
visible  in  the  successions  of  labor  and  repose  here  on 
earth ;  and  the  darkness  of  the  night  is  appointed  to  in- 
terrupt the  course  of  labor,  and  the  business  of  the  day, 
that  nature  may  be  recruited.  But  the  business  of 
heaven  is  never  interrupted  ;  there  is  everlasting  light 
and  everlasting  strength.  Say,  ye  blessed  spirits  on 
high,  who  join  in  the  services  which  are  performed  for 
God  and  the  Lamb  there,  ye  who  unite  all  your  powers 
in  the   worship  and  homage  that  is  paid  to  the  Fa- 


214)  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

ther  and  to  the  Son,  ye  that  mingle  in  all  the  joyful 
conversation  of  that  divine  and  holy  assembly,  say,  is 
there  found  any  useless  hour  there  ?  Do  your  devotions, 
your  duties  and  your  joys,  ever  suffer  such  an  entire  in- 
terruption of  rest  and  silence,  as  the  season  of  darkness 
on  earth  necessarily  creates  amongst  the  inhabitants  of 
our  world  ? 

The  living  creatures  *  which  are  represented  by 
John  the  apostle,  in  Rev.  iv  ;  whether  they  signify  saints 
or  angels,  yet  <hey  were  full  of  eyes  that  never  slumber ; 
they  rest  not  day  nor  night  ;  this  is  spoken  in  the  lan- 
guage of  mortals,  to  signify,  that  they  are  never  inter- 
rupted by  any  change  of  seasons,  or  intervening  dark- 
ness in  the  honors  they  pay  to  God.  They  are  descri- 
bed as  ever  saying,  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty ^ 
who  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come.  And  the  same  sort  of 
expression  is  used  concerning  the  saints  in  heaven. 
Rev.  vii.  15  ;  "They  who  came  out  of  great  tribulation, 
and  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  they  are  before  the  throne  of 
God,  and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple,"  that  is 
they  constantly  serve  or  worship  him  in  his  holy  temple 
in  heaven.  Perhaps  the  different  orders  and  ranks  of 
them  in  a  continual  succession,  are  ever  doing  some 
honors  to  God.  As  there  is  no  night  there,  so  there  is 
no  cessation  of  their  services,  their  worship,  and  their 
holy  exercises,  in  one  form  or  another,  throughout  the 
duration  of  their  being. 

Our  pleasures  here  on  earth  are  short  lived.  If  they 
are  intense,  nature  cannot  bear  them  long,  any  more 
than  constant  business  and  labor.  And  if  our  labors 
and  our  pleasures  should  happily  join  and  mingle  here 
on  earth,  which  is  not  always  the  case,  yet  night  compels 


*  The  word  2ua  which  is  translated  beasts,  signifies  only  animals  or  living 
creatures,  and  does  not  carry  with  it  so  mean  and  so  disagreeable  an  idea  a^ 
the  word  beasts  in  English, 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVFN.  215 

US  to  break  oif  the  pleasing  labor,  and  we  must  rest 
from  the  most  delightful  business.  Happy  is  that 
region  on  high,  where  business  and  pleasure  are  for  ever 
the  same  among  all  the  inhabitants  of  it ;  and  there  is  no 
pause  or  entire  cessation  of  the  one  or  the  other.  Tell 
me,  ye  warm  and  lively  christians,  when  your  hearts 
are  sweetly  and  joyfully  engaged  in  the  worship  of  God, 
in  holy  conversation,  or  in  any  pious  services  here  on 
earth,  how  often  you  have  been  forced  to  break  off  these 
celestial  entertainments  by  th6  returning  night?  But  in 
the  heavenly  state,  there  is  everlasting  active  service, 
with  everlasting  delight  and  satisfaction. 

In  that  blessed  world,  there  can  be  no  idleness,  no 
inactivity,  no  trifling  intervals  to  pass  away  time,  no 
vacant  or  empty  spaces  in  eternal  life.  Who  can  be 
idle  under  the  immediate  eye  of  God  ?  Who  can  trifle 
in  the  presence  of  Christ  ?  Who  can  neglect  the  pleas- 
urable work  of  heaven,  under  the  sweet  influences  of  the 
present  Deity,  and  under  the  smiles  of  his  countenance, 
who  approves  all  their  work  and  worship  ? 

3.  As  in  our  present  world  '^  the  hours  of  night"  are 
inactive  if  we  sleep,  so  "  they  seem  long  and  tedious 
when  our  eyes  are  wakeful,  and  sleep  flies  from  us.'' 
Perhaps  we  hear  the  clock  strike  one  hour  after  another, 
with  wearisome  longings  for  the  next  succeeding  hour. 
We  wish  the  dark  season  at  an  end,  and  we  long  for 
the  approach  of  morning,  we  grow  impatient  for  the 
dawning  of  the  day.  But  in  heaven,  ye  spirits  who 
have  dwelt  longest  there,  can  ye  remember  one  tiresome 
or  tedious  hour,  through  all  the  years  of  your  residence 
in  that  country?  Is  there  not  eternal  wakefulness 
among  all  the  blessed  ?  Can  any  of  you  ever  indulge 
a  slumber?  Can  you  sleep  in  heaven  ?  Can  you  want 
it,  or  wish  for  it?  No,  for  that  world  is  all  vital  and 
sprightly  for  ever.  When  we  leave  this  flesh  and  blood, 
farewell  to  all  the  tedious  measures  of  time,  farewell 


SI 6  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

tiresome  darkness  ;  our  whole  remaining  duration  is 
life  and  light,  vital  activity  and  vigor,  attended  with 
everlasting  holiness  and  joy. 

4.  While  we  are  here  on  earth,  the  darkness  of  the 
night  often  exposes  us  to  the  danger  of  losing  our  way^ 
of  wandering  into  confusion,  or  falling  into  mischief. 
When  the  sun-beams  have  withdrawn  their  light,  and 
midnight  clouds  overspread  the  heaven,  we  cannot  see 
our  path  before  us,  we  cannot  pursue  our  proper  course, 
nor  secure  ourselves  from  stumbling.  How  many 
travellers  have  been  betrayed  by  the  thick  shadows  of 
the  night,  into  mistaken  ways  or  pathless  deserts,  into 
endless  mazes  among  thorns  and  briars,  into  bogs,  and 
pits,  and  precipices,  into  sudden  destruction  and  death? 
But  there  are  no  dangers  of  this  kind  in  the  heavenly 
world.  All  the  regions  of  paradise  are  for  ever  illumin- 
ated by  the  glory  of  God.  The  light  of  his  countenance 
shines  upon  every  step  that  we  shall  take,  and  brightens 
all  our  way.  We  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  God,  and 
under  the  blessed  beams  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness ; 
and  we  are  secured  for  ever  against  wandering,  and 
against  every  danger  of  tripping  or  falling  in  our  course. 
Our  feet  may  stumble  on  the  dark  mountains  here  below, 
but  there  is  no  stumbling-block  on  the  hills  of  paradise  ; 
nor  can  we  go  astray  from  our  God  or  our  duty.  The 
paths  of  that  country  are  all  pleasure,  and  ever-living 
daylight  shines  upon  them  without  end.  Happy  beings 
who  dwell  or  travel  there  ! 

5.  In  the  night,  we  are  exposed  here  on  earthfto  the 
violence  and  jilmider  of  wicked  men,  whether  ice  are 
abroad  or  at  home.  There  is  scarce  any  safety  now  a 
days  to  those  Avho  travel  in  the  night ;  and  even  in  our 
own  habitations  there  is  frequent  fear  and  surprise.  At 
that  season,  tlie  sons  of  mischief  dig  through  houses  in 
the  dark,  which  they  had  marked  for  themselves  in  the 
day  time.     They  lurk  in  corners  to  seize  the  innocent, 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN.  317 

and  to  rob  him  of  his  possessions.  But  in  the  heavenly 
world  there  is  no  dark  hour ;  there  is  nothing  that  can. 
encourage  such  mischievous  designs;  nor  are  any  of  the 
sons  of  violence,  or  the  malicious  powers  of  darkness, 
suffered  to  have  an  abode  or  refuge  in  that  country. 
No  surprise  nor  fear  belongs  to  the  inhabitants  of  those 
regions.  Happy  souls,  who  spend  all  their  life  in  the 
light  of  the  countenance  of  God,  and  are  for  ever  secure 
from  tlie  plots  and  mischievous  devices  of  the  wicked  I 

While  we  dwell  here  below  amongst  the  changing 
seasons  of  light  and  darkness,  what  daily  care  is  taken 
to  shut  the  doors  of  our  dwellings  against  the  men  of 
mischief?  What  solicitude  in  a  time  of  war  to  keep  the 
gates  of  our  towns  and  cities  well  secured  against  all 
invasion  of  enemies.  Every  man  with  his  sword  upon 
his  thigh,  because  of  fear  in  the  night.  But  in  that 
blessed  world,  there  is  no  need  of  such  defences;  no 
such  guardian  cares  to  secure  the  inhabitants.  The 
gates  of  that  city  shall  not  be  shut  by  day  ;  and  there  is 
no  night  there.  There  shines  perpetual  daylight,  and 
the  gates  are  ever  open  to  receive  new  comers  from  our 
world,  or  for  the  conveyance  of  orders  and  messages  to 
and  fro  from  the  throne,  through  all  the  dominions  of 
God,  and  of  the  Lamb.  Blessed  are  the  inhabitants  of 
that  country,  where  there  are  no  dangers  arising  from 
any  of  the  wicked  powers  of  darkness,  nor  any  dark 
minute  to  favor  their  plots  of  mischief. 

6.  The  time  of  night  and  darkness  is  the  time  of  the 
concealment  of  secret  sins.  Shameful  iniquities  are  then 
practised  amongst  men,  because  the  darkness  is  a  cover 
to  them.  The  eye  of  the  adulterer  watches  for  the  twi- 
light j  saying  J  no  eye  shall  see  me  ;  Job  xxiv.  15.  In  the 
black  and  dark  night  he  hopes  for  concealment  as  well  as 
the  thief  and  the  murderer,  and  they  that  are  drunken, 
are  drunken  in  the  night ;  1  Thes.  v,  7-  The  hours 
of  darkness  are  a  temptation  to  these  iniquities,  and  the 
g8 


S18  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

shadows  of  the  evening  are  a  vail  to  cover  them  from  the 
sight  of  men.  They  find  a  screen  behind  the  cnrtains 
of  the  night,  and  a  refuge  in  thick  darkness.  But  in  the 
heavenly  world  there  is  no  temptation  to  such  iniquities, 
no  defilement  can  gain  an  entrance  there,  nor  could  it 
find  any  vail  or  covering.  The  regions  of  light,  and 
peace,  and  holy  love,  are  never  violated  w  ith  such  scenes 
of  villany  and  guilt.  No  secret  sins  can  be  committed 
there,  nor  can  they  hope  for  any  screen  to  defend  them 
from  the  eye  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  whose  eyes  are  like 
aflame  of  fire.  The  light  of  God  shines  round  every 
creature  in  that  country,  and  there  is  not  a  saint  or  angel 
there,  that  desires  a  covering  from  the  sight  of  God,  nor 
would  accept  of  a  vail  or  screen  to  interpose  between 
him  and  the  lovely  glories  of  divine  holiness  and  grace. 
To  behold  God,  and  to  live  under  the  blessings  of  his 
eye,  is  their  everlasting  and  chosen  joy.  O  that  our 
world  were  more  like  it ! 

7-  When  the  night  returns  upon  us  here  on  earth,  the 
pleasures  of  sight  vanish  and  are  lost.  Knowledge  i«! 
shut  out  at  one  entrance  in  a  great  degree,  and  one  of  our 
senses  is  withheld  from  the  spreading  beauties  and  glo- 
ries of  this  lower  creation,  almost  as  thougli  we  were 
deprived  of  it,  and  were  grown  blind  for  a  season. 

It  is  true,  the  God  of  nature  has  appointed  the  moon 
and  stars  to  relieve  the  darkness  at  some  seasons,  that 
when  the  sun  is  withdrawn,  half  the  world  at  those  hours 
may  not  be  in  confusion :  and  by  the  inventions  of  men. 
we  are  furnished  Avith  lamps  and  candles  to  relieve  our 
darkness  within  doors.  But  if  we  stir  abroad  in  the 
black  and  dark  night,  instead  of  the  various  and  de- 
lightful scenes  of  the  creation  of  God  in  the  skies  and 
the  fields,  we  are  presented  with  an  universal  blank  of 
nature,  and  one  of  the  great  entertaimnents  and  satisfac- 
tions of  this  life,  is  quite  taken  away  from  us.  But  in 
heaven,  the  glories  of  that  world  are  for  ever  in  \iew. 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN.  \    219 

The  beauteous  scenes  and  prospects  of  the  hills  of  para- 
dise are  never  hidden.  We  shall  there  continually 
behold  a  rich  variety  of  things  which  eye  hath  not  seen 
on  earth,  which  ear  hath  not  heard,  and  which  the  heart 
of  man  hath  not  conceived.  Say,  ye  souls  in  paradise, 
ye  inhabitants  of  that  glorious  world,  is  there  any  loss  of 
pleasure  by  your  absence  from  those  works  of  God 
which  are  visible  here  on  earth,  while  you  are  for  ever 
entertained  with  those  brighter  works  of  God  in  the 
upper  world?  While  every  corner  of  that  country  is 
enlightened  by  the  glory  of  God  himself,  and  while  the 
Son  of  God  with  all  his  beams  of  grace  shines  for  ever 
upon  it? 

8.  It  is  another  unpleasing  circumstance  of  the  night 
season,  that  it  is  the  coldest  part  of  time.  When  the 
sun  is  sunk  below  the  earth,  and  its  beams  are  liidden 
from  us,  its  kindly  and  vital  heat,  as  well  as  its  light, 
are  removed  from  one  side  of  the  globe  ;  and  this  gives 
a  sensible  uneasiness  in  the  hours  of  midnight,  to  those 
who  are  not  well  provided  with  warm  accommodations. 

And  I  might  add  also,  it  is  too  often  night  with  us  in 
a  spiritual  sense,  while  we  dwell  here  on  earth.  Our 
hearts  are  cold  as  well  as  dark.  How  seldom  do  we 
feel  that  fervency  of  spirit  in  religious  duties  which  God 
requh'es  ?  How  cool  is  our  love  to  the  greatest  and  the 
?3est  of  beings  ?  How  languid  and  indifferent  are  our 
affections  to  the  Son  of  God,  the  chiefest  of  ten  thousand, 
and  altogether  lovely  ?  And  how  much  doth  the  devotion 
of  our  cjouls  want  its  proper  ardor  and  vivacity  ? 

But  when  the  soul  is  arrived  at  heaven,  we  shall  be 
all  warm  and  fervent  in  our  divine  and  delightful  work. 
As  there  shall  be  nothing  painful  to  the  senses  in  that 
blessed  climate,  so  there  shall  not  be  one  cold  heart 
there,  nor  so  much  as  one  lukewarm  worshipper ;  for  we 
shall  live  under  the  immediate  rays  of  God  who  formed 
the  liglit,  and  under  the  kindest  influences  of  Jesus  the 


SSO  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

Son  of  righteousness.  We  shall  be  made  like  his  angels 
who  are  most  active  spirits,  and  his  ministers  who  are 
fiames  of  fire  :  Psalm  civ.  3.  Nor  shall  any  dulness  or 
indiflferency  hang  upon  our  sanctified  powers  and  pas- 
sions :  they  shall  be  all  warm  and  vigorous  in  their  ex- 
ercise, amidst  the  holy  enjoyments  of  that  countiy. 

In  the  9th  and  last  place,  as  night  is  the  season  ap- 
pointed for  sleep,  so  it  becomes  a  constant  periodical 
emblem  of  death,  as  it  returns  every  evening.  Sleep 
and  midnight,  as  I  have  shewn  before,  are  no  seasons  of 
labor  or  activity,  nor  of  delight  in  the  visible  things  of 
this  world.  It  is  a  dark  and  stupid  scene  wherein  we 
behold  nothing  Avith  truth,  though  we  are  sometimes 
deceived  and  deluded  by  dreaming  visions  and  vanities. 
Night  and  the  slumbers  of  it,  are  a  sort  of  shorter  death 
and  burial,  interposed  betw  een  the  several  daily  scenes 
and  transactions  of  human  life.  But  in  heaven,  as  there 
is  no  sleeping,  there  is  no  dying,  nor  is  there  any  thing 
there  that  looks  like  death.  Sleep,  the  image  or  emblem 
of  tleath,  is  for  ever  banished  from  that  world.  All  is 
vital  activity  there.  Every  pow  er  is  immortal,  and  every 
thing  that  dwells  there  is  for  ever  alive.  There  can  be 
no  death,  nor  the  image  of  it,  w  here  the  ever-living  God 
dw  ells  and  shines  with  his  kindest  beams  ;  his  presence 
maintains  perpetual  vitality  in  every  soul,  and  keeps  the 
new  creature  in  its  youth  and  vigor  for  ever.  The  saints 
shall  never  have  reason  to  mourn  over  their  withering 
graces,  languid  virtues,  or  dying  comforts ;  nor  shall  they 
ever  complain  of  drowsy  faculties,  or  inactive  pow  ers, 
where  God  and  the  Lamb  are  for  ever  present  in  the 
midst  of  them.  Shall  I  invite  your  thoughts  to  dwell  a 
little  upon  this  sulrject? 

Shall  we  make  a  more  particular  inquiry,  whence  it 
eomes  to  pass  that  there  is  no  night  nor  darkness  in  the 
heavenly  city  ?  We  are  told  a  little  before  the  words  of 
my  text,  that  the  glory  of  God  enlightens  it,  and  the 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN.  ggl 

Lamh  is  the  light  thereof  There  is  no  need  of  the  sun 
hy  day,  or  of  the  moon  by  night  ;  there  is  no  need  of  any 
such  change  of  seasons  as  day  and  night  in  the  upper 
regions,  nor  any  such  alternate  enlighteners  of  a  dark 
world,  as  God  has  placed  in  our  firmament,  or  in  this 
visible  sky.  The  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light  is 
sufficiently  irradiated  by  God  himself,  who  at  his  first 
call  made  the  light  spring  up  out  of  darkness  over  a  wide 
chaos  of  confusion,  before  the  sun  and  moon  appeared ; 
and  tlie  beams  of  divine  light,  grace  and  glory,  are  com- 
municated from  God,  the  original  foundation  of  it,  by  the 
Lamb,  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  country. 
It  was  by  Jesus  his  Son  that  God  made  the  light  at  first, 
and  by  him  he  conveys  it  to  all  the  happy  worlds. 

There  is  no  doubt  of  this  in  the  present  heaven  of 
saints  departed  from  flesh,  who  are  ascended  to  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect .  It  is  one  of  their  priv- 
ileges that  they  go  to  dwell,  not  only  where  they  see  the 
face  of  God,  but  where  they  behold  the  glory  of  Christy 
and  converse  wiih  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the  new  cove- 
nant, and  are  for  ever  present  with  the  Lord  who 
redeemed  them  ;  Heb.  xii.  S3,  24 ;  3  Cor.  v.  8.  Since 
his  mediatorial  kingdom  and  offices  are  not  yet  finished 
in  the  present  heaven  of  separate  souls,  we  may  depend 
on  this  blessedness  to  ])e  communicated  through  Christ, 
the  Lamb  of  God,  and  all  the  spiritual  enjoyments  and 
felicities  which  are  represented  under  the  metaphor  of 
light,  are  conveyed  to  them  through  Jesus  the  Mediator. 

The  sun,  in  the  natural  world,  is  a  bright  emblem  of 
divinity  or  the  Godhead,  for  it  is  the  spring  of  all  light,  and 
heat,  and  life,  to  the  creation.  It  is  by  the  influences  of 
the  sun,  that  herbs,  plants,  and  animals,  are  produced  in 
their  proper  seasons,  and  in  all  their  various  beauties  ; 
and  they  are  all  refreshed  and  supported  by  it.  Now  if 
we  should  suppose  this  vast  globe  of  fire  wliich  we  call 
the  sun^  to  be  enclosed  in   a  luige  lioUow  sphere  of 


322 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HBAVEN 


clirystal,  which  shoukl  attemper  its  rays  like  a  trans- 
parent vail,  and  give  milder  and  gentler  influences  to  the 
burning  beams  of  it,  and  yet  transmit  every  desirable  and 
useful  portion  of  light  or  heat,  this  would  be  an  happy 
emblem  of  tlie  man  Christ  Jesus,  in  wJiom  dwells  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.  It  is  the  Lamb  of  God, 
who,  in  a  mild  and  gracious  manner,  conveys  the  bless- 
ings originially  derived  from  God  his  Father,  to  all  the 
saints.  We  partake  of  them  in  our  measure,  in  this 
lower  world,  among  his  churches  here  on  earth ;  but 
it  is  with  a  nobler  influence,  and  in  a  more  sublime  de- 
gi'ee,  the  blessings  of  paradise  are  diflfiised  through  all 
the  mansions  of  glory,  by  this  illustrious  medium  of  con- 
veyance, Jesus  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  there  can  be  no 
night  nor  coldness,  death  nor  darkness,  in  this  happy 
state  of  separate  souls. 

When  the  bodies  of  the  saints  shall  be  raised  again, 
and  re-united  to  their  proper  spirits,  when  they  shall 
ascend  to  the  place  of  their  final  heaven  and  supreme 
happiness,  we  know  not  what  manner  of  bodies  they 
sliall  be,  what  sort  of  senses  they  shall  be  furnished 
with,  nor  how  many  powers  of  conversing  with  the  cor- 
poreal world,  shall  be  bestowed  upon  them.  Whetlier 
they  shall  have  such  organs  of  sensation  as  eyes  and 
ears,  and  stand  in  need  of  such  light  as  we  derive  from 
the  sun  or  moon,  is  not  absolutely  certain.  The  scrip- 
ture tells  us,  it  shall  not  be  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood. 
These  are  not  materials  refined  enough  for  tlie  heavenly 
state  ;  that  which  is  corruptible  cannot  inherit  in  corrup- 
tion ;  i  Cor.  XV.  50.  But  this  we  may  be  assured  of, 
that  whatsoever  inlets  of  knowledge,  wliatever  avenues 
of  pleasure,  whatever  deliglitful  sensations  are  neces- 
sary to  make  the  inhabitants  of  that  world  happy,  they 
shall  be  all  united  in  that  spiritual  body,  which  God 
will  prepare  for  the  new  raised  saints.  If  eyes  and  ears 
shall    belong  to   that   glorified  body,   those    sensitive 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEA.VEN. 

powers  shall  be  nobly  enlarged,  and  made  more  delight- 
fully susceptive  of  richer  shares  of  knowledge  and  joy. 

Or  what  if  we  shall  have  that  body  furnished  with 
such  unknown  mediums,  or  organs  of  sensation,  as  shall 
make  light  and  sound,  such  as  we  here  partake  of, 
unnecessary  to  us  ?  These  organs  shall  certainly  be 
such  as  shall  transcend  all  the  advantages  that  we  receive 
in  this  present  state  from  sounds  or  sun  beams.  There 
shall  be  no  disconsolate  darkness,  nor  any  tiresome 
silence  there.  There  shall  be  no  night  to  interrupt  the 
business  or  the  pleasures  of  that  everlasting  day. 

Or  what  if  the  whole  body  shall  be  endued  all  over 
with  the  senses  oi  seeins;  and  hearing P  What  if  these 
sort  of  sensations  shall  be  diffused  throughout  all  that 
immortal  body,  as  feeling  is  diffused  through  all  our 
present  mortal  flesh  ?  What  if  God  himself  shall  in  a 
more  illustrious  manner,  irradiate  all  the  powers  of  the 
body  and  spirit,  and  communicate  the  light  of  knowledge, 
holiness,  and  joy,  in  a  superior  manner  to  what  we  can 
now  conceive  or  imagine  ?  This  is  certain,  that  darkness 
in  every  sense,  with  all  the  inconveniences  and  unhappy 
consequences  of  it,  is  and  must  be  for  ever  banished  from 
the  heavenly  state.     There  is  no  night  there. 

When  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  liave  given  up  his 
mediatorial  kingdom  to  the  Father,  and  have  presented 
all  his  saints  spotless,  and  without  blemish  before  his 
throne,  it  is  hard  for  us  mortals  in  the  present  state,  to 
say  how  far  he  shall  be  the  everlasting  medium  of  the 
communication  of  divine  blessings  to  the  happy  inhabit- 
ants on  high.  Yet  when  we  consider  that  the  saints  and 
angels,  and  the  whole  happy  creation,  are  gathered 
together  in  him  as  their  head,*  it  is  certain  they  shall  all 
be  accounted  in  some  sense  his  members.  And  it  is 
highly  probable  he,  as  their  head,  shall  be  for  ever  active 

♦  The  greek  word  ecvxKexXxiea,  used  in  Eph.  i.  10,  favors  this  meaning^, 
and  perhaps  Col.  i.  ^0,  includes  the  same  thing. 


224i  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

in  communicatiiig  and  diffusing  the  uiikuown  blessings  of 
that  world,  amongst  all  the  inhabitants  of  it,  who  are 
gathered  and  united  in  him. 

I  come  in  the  last  place^  to  make  a  few  remarks  upon 
the  foregoing  discourse  ;  and  in  order  to  render  them 
more  effectual  for  our  spiritual  advantage,  I  shall  con- 
sider the  words  of  my  text,  there  shall  be  no  night  there, 
in  their  metaphorical  or  spiritual  meaning,  as  well  as  in 
their  literal  sense.  There  is  no  night  of  ignorance  or 
error  in  the  mind,  no  night  of  guilt  or  of  sorrow  in  the 
soul.  But  the  blessed  above  shall  dwell  surrounded 
with  the  light  of  divine  knowledge,  they  shall  walk 
in  the  liglit  of  holiness,  and  they  shall  be  for  ever  filled 
with  the  liglit  of  consolation  and  joy,  as  I  have  explained 
it  at  the  beginning  of  this  discourse. 

The  first  remark  then,  is  this  ;  Wheyi  heaven,  earth 
and  hell,  are  compared  together,  with  relation  to  light 
and  darkness,  or  day  and  night,  we  then  see  them  in 
their  proper  distinctions  and  aspects.  Every  thing  is 
set  in  its  most  distinguishing  situation  and  appearance, 
when  it  is  compared  with  things  which  are  most 
opposite. 

The  earth  on  which  we  dwell  during  this  state  of 
trial,  has  neither  all  day,  nor  all  night  belonging  to  it ; 
but  sometimes  light  appears,  and  again  darkness, 
whether  in  a  natural  or  a  spiritual  sense. 

Though  there  be  long  seasons  of  darkness  in  the 
winter,  and  darkness  in  the  summer  also,  in  its  constant 
returns,  divides  one  day  from  another,  yet  the  God  of 
nature  has  given  us  a  larger  portion  of  light,  than  there 
is  of  darkness,  throughout  the  whole  globe  of  the  earth. 
And  this  benefit  we  receive  ])y  the  remaining  beams  of 
the  sun  after  its  setting,  and  by  the  assistance  of  the  moon 
and  the  stars  of  heaven.  Blessed  be  Grod  for  the  moon 
and  stars,  as  well  as  for  the  sun-beams,  and  the  bright- 
ness of  noon.  Blessed  be  God  for  all  the  lights  of  nature, 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN.  225 

but  we  still  bless  him  more  for  the  light  of  the  gospel,  and 
for  any  rays  from  heaven,  any  beams  of  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness, which  diffuse  in  lower  measures,  knowledge, 
and  holiness,  and  comfort,  among  the  inhabitants  of  this 
our  world.  God  is  here  manifesting  his  love  and  grace 
in  such  proportions  as  he  thinks  proper.  Some  beams 
of  the  heavenly  world  break  out  upon  us  here  in  this 
dark  region.  God,  the  spring  of  all  our  light,  and  the 
Lamb  of  God  by  his  Spirit  communicates  sufficient  light 
to  us,  to  guide  us  on  in  our  way  to  that  heavenly  country. 
In  hell  there  is  all  night  and  darkness,  thick  darkness, 
in  every  sense,  for  the  God  of  glory  is  absent  there  as  to 
any  manifestations  of  liis  face  and  favor.  And  therefore 
it  is  often  called  utter  darkness,  where  there  is  weepings 
and  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  There  is  no  lioli- 
ness,  there  is  no  comfort,  there  are  no  benefits  of  the 
creation,  no  blessings  of  grace ;  all  are  forfeited  and  gone 
for  ever.  It  is  everlasting  night  and  blackness  of  dark- 
ness in  that  world — horror  of  soul,  without  a  beam  of 
refreshment  from  the  face  of  God  or  the  Lamb,  for  ever. 
The  devils  are  now  reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under 
darkness  to  the  judgment  of  the  great  day  ;  Jude  6.  But 
then  their  confinement  shall  be  closer,  and  their  dark- 
ness, guilt,  and  sorrow,  shall  be  more  overwhelming. 
Is  it  lawful  for  me  in  this  place,  to  mention  the  descrip- 
tion which  Milton  our  English  poet  gives  of  their 
wretched  habitation. 

A  dungeon  horrible  on  all  sides  round, 
As  one  great  furnace  flam'd  ;  yet  from  those  flames 
No  liglit,  but  rather  darkness  visible 
Serv'd  only  to  discover  sis^-bts  of  woe ; 
Regions  of  sorrow,  doleful  shades,  where  peace 
And  rest  can  never  dwell ;  hope  never  comes. 
That  comes  to  all.     But  torture  without  end 
Still  urges,  and  a  fiery  deluge  fed 
With  ever  burning  sulphur  unconsum'd. 
Such  place  eternal  jiibtice  had  piepared 
For  rebel  angels  ;  here  there  pn.s*ii  ordain'd 

29 


226  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

In  utter  darkness,  and  their  portion  set 

As  far  remov'd  from  God  and  light  of  heaven 

As  from  the  centre  thrice  to  th'  utmast  pole. 

To  this  the  poet  adds, 

O  how  unlike  the  place  from  whence  they  fell  ! 

How  unlike  to  that  heaven  which  1  have  been  de- 
scribing, in  which  there  is  no  night ;  and  all  the  evils 
of  darkness  in  every  sense  are  for  ever  secluded  from 
that  happy  region,  where  knowledge,  holiness,  and  joy, 
are  all  inseparable  and  immortal. 

2.  Remark.   What  light  of  every  kind  we  are  made 
partakers  of  here  on  earth,  let  us  use  it  with  holy  thank- 
fulness, with  zeal  and  religious  improvement.     Hereby 
we  may  be  assisted  and  animated  to  travel  on,  through 
the  mingled  stages  and  scenes  of  light  and  darkness,  in 
this  world,  till  we  arrive  at  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  perfect  light.     It  is  a  glorious  blessing  to  this  dark 
world,  that  the  light  of  Christianity  is  added  to  the  light 
of  Judaism,  and  tiie  light  of  nature  ;  and  that  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  the  gospel  of  Christ,  are  set  before  us  in 
this  nation  in  their  distinct  views,  on  purpose  to  make 
our  way  to  happiness  more  evident  and  easy.     May  the 
song  of  Moses,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb,  be  sung  in 
our  land  !  Bat  let  us  never  rest  satisfied,  till  the  light 
that  is  let  into  our  minds  become  a  spring  of  divine  life 
within  us,  a  life  of  knowledge,  holiness,  and  comfort. 
Let  us  not  be  found  amongst  the  number  of  those,  who 
when  light  is  come  into  the  world,  love  darkness  rather 
than  light,\esi  we  fall  under  their  condemnation;  John  iii. 
19.  Let  us  never  rest  till  we   see  the  evidences  of  the 
children  of  God  wrought  in  us  with  power  ;  till  the  day- 
spring  that  has  visited  us  from  on  high  has  entered  into 
our  spirits,  and  refined  and  moulded  them  into  the  divine 
image  ;  till  we  who  arc  by  nature  all  darkness  are  made 
light  in  the  Lord. 

O  what  a  1)lessed.  change  does   the  converting  grace 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN.  gS7 

of  Christ  make  in  the  soul  of  a  son  or  daughter  of  Adam  ? 
It  is  like  the  beauty  and  pleasure  which  the  rising  morn- 
ing diffuses  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  after  a  night  of 
storm  and  darkness  ;  it  is  so  much  of  heaven  let  into 
all  the  chambers  of  the  soul ;  it  is  then  only  that  we 
begin  to  know  ourselves  aright,  and  know  God  in  his 
most  awful  and  most  lovely  manifestations  ;  it  is  in  this 
light  we  see  the  hateful  evil  of  every  sin,  the  beauty  of 
holiness,  the  worth  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  of  his 
salvation.  It  is  a  light  that  carries  divine  heat  and  life 
with  it ;  it  renews  all  the  powers  of  the  sph'it,  and  in- 
troduces holiness,  hope  and  joy,  in  the  room  of  folly 
and  guilt,  sin,  darkness,  and  sorrow. 

S.  Remark.  If  God  has  wrought  this  sacred  and  di- 
vine change  in  our  souls,  if  we  are  made  the  children  of 
light,  or  if  we  profess  to  have  felt  this  change,  and  hope 
for  an  interest  in  this  bright  inheritance  of  the  saints,  let 
us  put  aicaij  all  the  ivorks  of  darkness  ivitli  hatred  and 
detestatioyi.  Let  us  walk  in  the  light  of  truth  and  holi- 
ness, Eph.  5.  8.  Ye  were  once  darkness  ;  hut  are  now 
light  in  the  Lord  ;  walk  as  children  of  light.  And  the 
apostle  repeats  his  exhortation  to  the  Thessalonians  in 
1  Epistle  5th  chapter  and  the  5th  verse.  Ye  ai^  all 
children  of  the  light  and  of  the  day,  and  not  the  sons  of 
night  or  darkness  ;  therefore  let  us  not  sleep  as  others 
do,  but  let  us  watch  and  be  sober  ,*  putting  on  the  breast- 
plate of  faith  and  love,  and  for  an  helmet  the  hope  of 
salvation,  for  God  hath  not  appointed  us  to  wrath,  hut 
to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

To  animate  every  christian  to  tliis  holy  care  and 
watchfulness,  let  us  think  what  a  terrible  disappoint- 
ment it  will  be,  after  we  have  made  a  bright  profession 
of  cliristianity  in  our  lives,  to  lie  down  in  death  in  a 
state  of  sin  and  guilt,  and  to  awake  in  tlie  world  of 
spirits,  in  the  midst  of  the  groans  and  agonies  of  hell, 
surrounded  and  covered  with  everlasting  darkness.  Let 


SS8  NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

our  public  profession  be  as  illustrious  and  bright  as  it 
will,  yet  if  we  indulge  works  of  darkness  in  secret, 
night  and  darkness  will  be  our  eternal  portion,  with  the 
anguish  of  conscience,  and  the  terrors  of  the  Almiglity, 
without  one  glimpse  of  hope  or  relief.  It  is  only  tliose 
who  walk  in  the  light  of  holiness  here  who  can  be  fit  to 
dwell  in  tlie  presence  of  a  God  of  holiness  hereafter. 
Light  is  sown  only  for  the  righteous,  and  joy  for  the 
upright  in  heart ;  and  it  shall  break  out  one  day  from 
amongst  the  clods,  a  glorious  harvest ;  but  only  the  sons 
and  the  daughters  of  light  shall  taste  of  the  blessed 
fruits  of  it. 

Think  again  with  yourselves  when  you  are  tempted 
to  sin  and  folly,  what  if  I  should  be  cut  oif  on  a  sudden, 
practising  the  works  of  darkness,  and  my  soul  be  sum- 
moned into  the  eternal  world,  covered  with  guilt  and 
defilement  ?  Shall  I  then  be  fit  for  the  world  of  light  ? 
Will  the  God  of  light  ever  receive  me  to  his  dwelling  ? 
Do  I  not  hereby  render  myself  unfit  company  for  the 
angels  of  light  ?  and  what  if  I  should  be  sent  down  to 
dwell  among  the  spirits  of  darkness,  since  I  have  imita- 
ted their  sinful  manners,  and  obeyed  their  cursed  influ- 
ences ? 

O  may  such  thoughts  as  these  dwell  upon  our  spirits 
with  an  awful  solemnity,  and  be  a  perpetual  guard 
against  defiling  our  garments  with  any  iniquity,  lest  our 
Lord  should  come  and  find  us  thus  polluted.  Let  us 
walk  onwards  in  the  paths  of  light,  which  are  discovered 
to  u«!  in  the  word  of  God,  and  which  are  illustrated  by 
his  holy  ordinances,  to  guide  us  through  the  clouds  and 
shades  which  attend  us  in  this  wilderness,  till  our  Lord 
Jesus  shall  come  with  all  his  surrounding  glories,  and 
take  us  to  the  full  possession  of  the  inheritance  in  light. 

Remark  4.  Under  our  darkest  nights,  our  most 
inactive  and  heavy  hours,  our  mo^t  uncomfortahle 
seasons  here  on  earth,  let  us  remember  we  are  trav- 
elling to  a  icorld  of  light  and  joy.     If  we  happen  to 


NO  NIGHT  IN  HEAVEN. 

lie  awake  in  midnight  darkness,  and  count  the  tedious 
hours  one  after  another,  in  a  mournful  succession,  under 
any  of  the  maladies  of  nature,  or  the  sorrows  of  this  life, 
let  us  comfort  ourselves  that  we  are  not  shut  up  in  eternal 
night  and  darkness  without  hope,  but  we  are  still  making 
our  way  towards  that  country  where  there  is  no  night, 
where  there  is  neither  sin  nor  pain,  malady  nor  sorrow. 

What  if  the  blessed  God  is  pleased  to  try  us,  by  the 
withholding  of  light  from  our  eyes  for  a  season  ?  What 
if  we  are  called  to  seek  our  duty  in  dark  providencies, 
or  are  perplexed  in  deep  and  difficult  controversies 
wherein  we  cannot  flind  the  light  of  truth?  What  if  we 
sit  in  darkness  and  mourning,  and  see  no  light,  and  the 
beams  of  divine  consolation  are  cut  off,  let  us  still  trust 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  ourselves  tipon  our 
God,  especially  as  he  manifests  himself  in  the  Lamb 
that  was  slain,  the  blessed  medium  of  his'  mercy  ;  Isaiah 
1.  10.  Let  us  learn  to  say  with  the  Prophet  MicaJi  in  the 
spirit  of  faith,  Micah  vii.  8.  9  ;  "When  I  sit  in  dark- 
ness the  Lord  will  be  a  light  unto  me ;  he  will  bring  me 
forth  to  the  light,  and  1  shall  behold  his  righteousness." 

Blessed  be  God  that  the  night  of  ignorance,  grief,  or 
affliction,  which  attends  us  in  this  world,  is  not  ever- 
lasting night.  Heaven  and  glory  are  at  hand  ;  wait 
and  watch  for  the  morning  star,  for  Jesus  and  the  resur- 
rection. Roll  on  apace  in  your  appointed  course  ye  suns 
and  moons,  and  all  ye  twinkling  inligteners  of  the  sky, 
carry  on  the  changing  seasons  of  light  and  darkness  in 
this  lower  world  with  your  utmost  speed,  till  you  have 
finished  all  my  appointed  months  of  continuance  here. 
The  light  of  faith  shews  me  the  dawning  of  that  glorious 
day,  which  shall  finish  all  my  nights  and  darkness  for 
ever.  Make  haste,  O  deli2;htful  morning,  and  delay 
not  my  hopes.  Let  me  hasten,  let  me  arrive  at  that 
blessed  inheritance,  those  mansions  of  paradise,  where 
night  is  never  known,  but  one  eternal  day  shall  make 
our  knowledge,  our  holiness,  and  our  joy,  eternal.  Amen. 


DISCOURSE  Till. 

A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

2  COR.  V.  5. 

JS''oio  he  that  hath  wrought  us  for  the  selfsame  thing, 

is  God. 

WHEN  this  apostle  designs  to  entertain  our  hope 
in  the  noblest  manner,  and  raise  our  faitli  to  its  highest 
joys,  he  generally  calls  our  thoughts  far  away  from  all 
present  and  visible  things,  and  sends  them  forward  to 
the  great  and  glorious  day  of  the  resurrection.  He 
points  our  meditations  to  take  a  distant  prospect  of  the 
final  and  complete  happiness  of  the  saints  in  heaven, 
when  their  bodies  shall  be  raised  shining  and  immortal : 
"whereas  it  is  but  seldom  tliat  he  takes  notice  of  the 
heaven  of  separate  souls,  or  that  part  of  our  future  hap- 
piness which  commences  at  the  hour  of  death.  But  in 
this  chapter,  the  holy  writer  seems  to  keep  both  these 
heavens  in  his  eye,  and  speaks  of  that  blessedness  with 
which  the  spirits  of  the  just  shall  enjoy  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  as  soon  as  they  are  absent  from  the  body, 
and  yet  leads  our  souls  onwards  also  to  our  last  and 
most  perfect  state  of  happiness,  which  is  delayed  till  our 
corruptible  bodies  shall  be  raised  from  the  dust,  and 
mortality  shall  be  swallowed  up  in  life.  We  knoiv, 
saith  he  in  the  first  verse  of  this  chapter,  we  knoic  that 
as  soon  as  our  mortal  tabernaclej  in  which  we  now 
dwell,  is  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  ready  for  us  in  the 
heavens  ;  that  is,  an  investure  in  a  glorious  state  of  holi- 
ness and  immortality,  which  waits  to  receive  our  spirits 
when  we  drop  this  dying  flesh.     Yet  the  felicities  of  this 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  131 

paradise,  or  first  lieaveii;  shall  receive  an  unspeakable 
addition  and  advancement,  wlien  Christ  shall  come  the 
second  time,  with  all  his  saints,  to  complete  our  salva- 
tion. 

But  which  heaven  soever  we  arrive  at,  whether  it  be 
tliis  of  the  separate  state,  or  that  when  our  bodies  shall 
be  restored,  still  we  must  be  wrought  up  to  a  proper 
fitness  for  it  by  God  himself ;  and  as  the  end  of  this  verse 
tells  us,  he  gives  us  his  own  Spirit  as  an  earnest  of  these 
future  blessings. 

The  observation  which  shall  be  the  subject  of  my 
discourse,  is  this  ;  Those  who  shall  enjoy  the  heavejily 
blessedness  hereafter,  must  be  prepared  for  it  here  in 
this  world,  by  the  operation  of  the  blessed  God. 

Here  we  must  take  notice  in  the  first  place,  that  since 
we  are  sinful  and  guilty  creatures  in  ourselves,  and 
have  forfeited  all  our  pretences  to  the  favor  of  God  and 
happiness,  we  must  be  restored  to  his  favor,  we  must 
have  our  sins  forgiven,  we  must  be  justified  in  his  sight 
with  an  everlasting  righteousness,  we  must  be  adopted 
as  the  children  of  God,  and  have  a  right  and  title  given 
us  to  the  heavenly  inheritance,  before  we  can  enter  into 
it,  or  possess  it  ;  and  this  blessing  is  procured  for  us  by 
the  obedience  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God.  It  is  in  his 
blood  that  we  find  an  atonement  for  our  iniquities ;  and 
we  must  be  made  heirs  of  glory,  by  becoming  the 
adopted  children  of  God,  aud  so  ive  are  joint  heirs  with 
his  Son  Jesus,  and  shall  be  glorified  with  him  ;  Rom. 
viii.  ±7- 

And  it  is  by  a  true  and  living  faith  in  the  Son  of  God, 
that  we  become  partakers  of  this  blessing.  God  has  set 
forth  liis  Son  Jesus  as  a  jjropitiation  for  sinners  through 
faith  in  his  blood  ;  Rom.  iii.  24.  We  are  justified  by 
faith  in  liis  blood,  and  have  hove  of  eternal  life  through 
him ;  Rom.  v.  We  also  receive  our  adoption,  and 
become  the  children  of  God  through  faith   in   Christ 


13S 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 


Jpsus  ;  Gal.  iii.  26 ;  and  tlieueby  we  obtain  a  title  to 
some  mansion  in  our  Father's  house  in  heaven,  since 
Jesus,  our  elder  brother,  and  our  forerunner,  is  admitted 
into  it  to  take  a  place  there  in  our  name.  This  is  a 
very  considerable  part  of  our  necessary  preparation  for 
the  heavenly  world,  that  we  should  be  believers  in  the 
Son  of  God,  and  united  to  him  by  a  living  faith  ;  and 
i\\i^  faith  also  is  the  gift  of  God  ;  Eph.  ii.  8.  We  are 
wrought  up  to  it  by  his  grace. 

But  as  this  does  not  seem  to  be  the  chief  thing  designed 
in  the  words  of  my  text,  I  shall  pass  it  over  thus  briefly, 
and  apply  myself  to  consider  what  that  further  fitness  or 
preparation  for  heaven  intends,  for  which  we  are  said 
here  to  he  wrought  up  by  God  himself.  The  former 
preparation  for  heaven,  may  rather  be  said  to  be  a  rel- 
ative change,  which  is  included  in  our  pardon  or  justifi- 
cation, and  alters  our  state  from  the  condemnation  of  hell, 
to  the  favor  and  love  of  God.  But  this  latter  prepar- 
ation implies  a  real  change  of  our  nature  by  sanctifying 
grace,  and  gives  us  a  temper  of  soul  suited  to  the 
business  and  blessedness  of  the  heavenly  world.  This 
is  the  preparation  which  my  text  speaks  of. 

The  great  enquiry  therefore,  at  present  is.  What  are 
those  steps,  or  gradual  operations,  by  which  the  blessed 
God  works  us  up  to  this  jitness  for  heaven  P 

And  here  I  shall  not  run  over  all  the  parts  and  linea- 
ments of  the  new  creature,  which  is  formed  by  regener- 
ation, nor  the  particular  operations  of  converting  grace, 
whereby  we  are  convinced  of  sin,  and  led  to  faith  and 
repentance,  and  new  obedience,  though  these  are  all 
necessary  to  this  end  ;  but  I  shall  confine  myself  only 
to  those  things  which  have  a  more  immediate  reference 
to  the  heavenly  blessednesss ;  and  they  are  such  as 
follow. 

1.  ^*  God  works  iis  up  to  a  preparation  for  the 
heavenly  felicity,  by  establishing  and  confirming  our 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  §33 

belief,  that  there  is  a  heaven  provided  for  the  saints,  and 
by  giving  us  some  clearer  acquaintance  with  the  nature^ 
the  business,  and  the  blessedness  of  this  heaven.''  All 
this  is  done  by  the  gospel  of  Ciirist,  and  by  the  secret 
operation  of  the  blessed  God,  teaching  us  to  understand 
his  gospel, 

Alas !  how  ignorant  were  the  heathen  sages  about  any 
future  state  for  the  righteous  ?  How  bewildered  were 
the  best  of  them  in  all  their  imaginations  ?  How  vain 
were  all  their  reasonings  upon  this  subject,  and  how  little 
satisfaction  could  they  give  to  an  honest  enquirer, 
whether  there  was  any  reward  provided  for  good  men 
beyond  this  life  ?  The  light  of  nature  was  tlieir  guide  ; 
and  those  in  whom  this  feeble  taper  burnt  with  the  fairest 
lustre,  were  still  left  in  great  darkness  about  futurity. 
As  the  Gentile  philosophers  were  left  in  great  uncertain- 
ties whether  there  was  any  heaven  or  no,  so  were  their 
conceptions  of  heavenly  things  very  absurd  and  ridic- 
ulous ;  and  their  various  fancies  about  the  nature  and 
enjoyments  of  it,  were  all  impertinence. 

And  how  little  knowledge  had  the  patriarchs  them- 
selves, if  we  may  judge  of  their  knowledge  by  the  five 
books  of  Moses,  which  give  no  plain  and  express  promise 
of  future  happiness  in  another  world,  neither  to  Abel  nor 
Noah,  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  or  to  Moses  himself  ? 
And  were  it  not  for  some  expressions  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  by  the  xith  chapter  to  the  Hebrews,  where 
we  are  told,  that  these  good  men  sought  a  heavenly  coun- 
try^ and  hoped  for  happiness  in  a  future  and  invisible 
state,  we  should  sometimes  be  ready  to  doubt  whether 
they  knew  almost  any  thing  of  the  future  resurrection 
and  glory. 

That  great  and  excellent  man,  Job,  had  one  or  two 

lucid  intervals  of  peculiar  brightness,  which  shone  upon 

him  from  heaven,  in  the  midst  of  his    distresses,  and 

raised  him  above  and  beyond  the  common  level  of  the 

30 


334  A  SOUL  PREPARED  I'OR  HEAVEN. 

dispensation  he  lived  in  ;  yet,  in  the  main,  when  he 
describes  the  state  of  the  dead,  how  desolate  and  dole- 
some  is  his  language,  and  what  heavy  darkness  hangs 
upon  his  hope  !  See  his  expression.  Job  x.  SI,  22  ; 
^^  Let  me  alone  that  I  may  take  comfort  a  little,  before 
I  go  whence  I  shall  not  return,  even  to  the  land  of  dark- 
ness and  the  shadow  of  death,  a  land  of  darkness  as 
darkness  itself,  and  of  the  shadow  of  death,  without  any 
order,  and  where  the  light  is  as  darkness."  Mark  how 
this  good  man  heaps  one  darkness  upon  another,  and 
makes  so  formidable  a  gloom  as  was  hardly  to  be  dis- 
pelled by  the  common  notices  given  to  men  in  that  age. 

And  if  we  look  into  the  Jewish  writings  in  and  after 
the  days  of  Moses,  we  find  the  men  of  righteousness 
frequently  entertained  with  promises  of  corn,  and  wine, 
and  oil,  and  other  blessings  of  sense  ;  and  few  there 
were  amongst  them  who  saw  clearly,  and  firmly  be- 
lieved the  heavenly  inheritance  through  the  types,  and 
shadows,  and  figures  of  Canaan,  the  promised  land, 
which  flowed  with  milk  and  honey. 

It  is  granted  there  are  some  hints  and  discoveries  of 
a  blessedness  beyond  the  grave  in  the  writings  of  David, 
Isaiah,  Daniel,  and  some  of  the  prophets.  But  the 
brightest  of  these  notices  fall  far  short  of  what  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  set  before  us.  The  Son  of 
God,  who  came  down  from  heaven,  where  he  had  lived 
from  before  the  creation  of  this  world,  has  revealed  to 
us  infinitely  more  of  the  invisible  state  tlian  all  that  went 
before  him.  He  tells  us  of  the /^itre  iri  heart  enjoying 
the  sight  of  God^  and  conversing  with  Mraham,  Isaac* 
and  Jacob,  the  ancient  saints.  He  assures  us  there  are 
many  mansions  in  his  Father^s  house,  and  that  he  went 
to  prepare  a  place  there  for  his  followers.  I  tell  you, 
says  he,  John  viii.  38, 1  tell  you  the  things  ivliich  I  have 
seen  ivith  my  Father.  And  when  he  came  again  from 
the  dead,  he  made  it  appear  to  his  disciples  that  he  had 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN,  2S5 

brought  life  and  immortality  to  light   by  his  gospel; 
2  Timothy  i.  10. 

It  is  only  the  New  Testament  that  gives  us  so  bright 
and  satisfactory  an  account  what  our  future  heaven  is. 
The  righteous  shall  be  with  God,  shall  behold  him,  shall 
dwell  with  Christ,  and  see  his  glory  ;  they  shall  worship 
day  and  night  in  his  temple,  and  sing  tlie  praises  of 
him  that  sits  upon  the  throne,  and  of  the  Lamb  that  has 
redeemed  them  by  his  blood ;  there  shall  be  no  sin,  no 
sorrow,  no  death,  nor  any  more  pain  ;  they  shall  have 
such  satisfactions  and  employments  as  are  wortliy  of  a 
rational  nature,  and  a  soul  reiined  from  sense  and  sin. 
St.  Paul,  one  of  his  disciples,  was  transported  into  tlie 
third  heaven  before  he  died,  and  their  learnt  unspeakable 
things  ;  %  Cor.  xii.  S,  4 ;  and  he,  together  with  the  other 
apostles,  have  published  the  glories  of  that  future  world 
which  they  learnt  from  Jesus  their  Lord,  and  confirmed 
these  tilings  to  our  faith  by  prophecies  and  miracles 
without  number. 

Now  the  blessed  God  himself  prepares  his  own 
people  for  this  heaven  of  happiness,  by  giving  them 
a  full  conviction,  and  assurance  of  the  truth  of  all  these 
divine  discoveries  ;  he  impresses  them  upon  their  heart 
with  power,  and  makes  them  attend  to  those  divine  im- 
pressions. Every  true  christian  has  learnt  to  say  within 
himself,  "  This  celestial  blessedness  is  no  dream,  is  no 
painted  vision,  no  gay  scene  of  flattering  fancy,  nor  is  it 
a  matter  of  doubtful  dispute,  or  uncertain  opinion.  lam 
assured  of  it  from  the  words  of  Christ  the  Son  of  God, 
and  from  his  blessed  followers,  whom  he  authorised  to 
teach  me  the  things  of  a  future  world."  He  that  is 
taught  of  God  beholds  these  glories  in  the  light  of  a 
divine  faith,  which  is  to  him  the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for,  and  the  evidence  of  things  not  yet  seen  ;  Heb.  xi.  1. 
S.  God  works  up  the  souls  of  his  people  to  a  prepara- 
tion for  the  lieavenly  state,  h^  purifying  them  from  every 


236  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

defilement  4hat  might  unfit  them  for  the  blessedness  of 
heaven.  The  removal  of  the  guilt  of  sin  by  his  pardon- 
ing  mercy  I  have  mentioned  before,  as  necessary  to  our 
entrance  into  the  heavenly  state ;  and  we  must  walk 
through  this  world,  this  defiling  world,  with  all  holy 
watchfulness,  lest  our  soul  be  blemished  with  new  pol- 
lutions, lest  new  guilt  come  upon  our  consciences,  and 
the  thoughts  of  appearance  before  God  be  terrible  to  us. 
That  soul  is  very  much  unfit  for  an  entrance  into  the 
presence  of  a  holy  Grod,  who  is  ever  plunging  itself 
into  new  circumstances  of  guilt,  by  a  careless  and  unholy 
conversation.  To  stand  upon  the  borders  of  life,  and 
the  very  edge  of  eternity,  will  be  dreadful  to  those  who 
have  given  themselves  a  loose  to  criminal  pleasures,  and 
indulged  their  irregular  appetites  and  passions. 

But  it  is  not  only  a  conscience  purged  from  the  guilt 
of  sin  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  but  a  soul  washed  also 
from  the  defiling  power  and  taint  of  sin  by  the  sanctify- 
ing spirit  that  is  necessary  to  make  us  meet  for  the 
heavenly  inheritance.  This  is  that  purification  which  I 
now  chiefly  intend  ;  Matthew  v.  8 ;  "  Blessed  are  the 
pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see  God."  JSTothing  that 
defileth  must  enter  into  the  city  of  God  on  high,  nor  who- 
soever maketh  a  lie  or  loveth  it ;  Rev.  xxi.  27.  No 
injustice,  no  falsehood,  no  guile  or  deceit  can  be  admit- 
ted within  those  gates.  They  must  be  without  guile 
both  in  their  heart  and  tongue,  if  they  will  stand  before 
the  throne  of  God  ;  Rev.  xiv.  5  ;  sincerity  and  truth  of 
soul,  with  all  the  beauties  of  an  upright  heart  and  char- 
acter, are  necessary  to  prepare  an  inhabitant  for  that 
blessed  state.  There  must  be  no  envy,  no  wrath  or 
malice,  no  revenge,  nor  any  of  the  angry  principles  that 
dwell  in  our  flesh  and  blood,  or  that  inflame  and  disturb 
the  mind,  will  be  found  in  those  regions  of  peace  and 
love.  There  must  be  no  pride  or  ambition,  no  self-ex- 
altation and  vanity  that  can  dwell  in  heaven,  for  it  cast 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  S37 

out  the  angels  of  glorious  degree,  when  they  would  exalt 
themselves  above  their  own  station.  Pnde  tvas  the  con- 
demnation of  the  devil,  and  it  must  not  dwell  in  a  human 
heart  that  ever  hopes  for  a  heavenly  dwelling-place, 
1  Tim.  iii.  6  ;  and  Jude  verse  6.  There  must  be  no 
sensual  and  intemperate  creature  there,  no  covetous 
selfishness,  no  irregular  passions,  no  narrowness  of  soul, 
no  uncharitable  and  party  spirit  will  ever  be  found  in 
that  country  of  diflTusive  love  and  joy. 

And  since  the  best  of  christians  have  had  the  seeds 
of  many  of  these  iniquities  in  their  hearts,  and  they  have 
made  a  painful  complaint  of  these  rising  corruptions  of 
nature  upon  many  occasions,  these  iniquities  must  be 
mortified  and  slain  by  the  work  of  the  spirit  of  God 
within  us,  if  ever  we  ourselves  would  live  the  divine 
life  of  heaven;  Romans  viii.  13.  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  this  purifying  work  to  be  done  in  the  souls  of  all 
of  us,  before  we  can  be  prepared  for  the  heavenly  world, 
and  though  we  cannot  arrive  at  perfection  liere,  yet  we 
must  be  wrouglit  up  to  a  temper  in  some  measure  fit  to 
enter  into  that  blessedness.  And  God  is  training  his 
people  up  for  this  purpose  all  the  days  of  their  travels 
through  this  desert  world.  Happy  souls,  who  feel 
themselves  more  and  more  released  from  the  bonds  of 
these  iniquities,  day  by  day,  and  thereby  feel  within 
themselves  the  growing  evidencies  of  a  joyful  hope  ! 

3.  God  does  not  only  purify  us  from  every  sin  in 
order  to  prepare  us  for  heaven,  but  he  is  ever  loosening 
and  weaning  our  hearts  from  all  those  lawful  things  in 
this  life,  which  are  not  to  be  enjoyed  in  heaven.  Our 
sensual  appetites,  and  our  carnal  desires,  so  far  as  they 
are  natural,  though  not  sinful,  must  die  before  we  can 
enter  into  eternal  life.  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit 
that  divine,  incorruptible,  and  refined  happiness.  Rich- 
es and  treasures  of  gold  and  silver  which  the  rust  can 
corru])t,  and  which  thieves  can  break  through  and  steal, 


338  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

are  not  provided  for  the  heavenly  state.  They  are  all 
of  the  earthly  kind^  and  too  mean  for  the  relish  of  a 
heavenly  spirit.  Although  a  christian  may  possess 
many  of  these  things  in  the  present  life,  yet  his  affections 
must  he  divested  of  them,  and  his  soul  divided  from 
them,  if  he  would  be  a  saint  indeed,  and  ever  ready  for 
the  purer  blessings  of  paradise.  The  business,  the 
cares  and  the  concerns  of  this  secular  life,  are  ready  to 
drink  up  our  spirits  too  much  while  we  are  here ;  we 
are  too  prone  to  mingle  our  very  souls  with  them,  and 
thereby  grow  unfit  for  heavenly  felicities.  And  there- 
fore it  is  that  our  Saviour  has  warned  us  ;  Luke  xxi.  B4<. 
Let  not  your  hearts  be  overcharged  with  the  cares  of 
this  worldy  any  more  than  with  surfeiting  and  drunken- 
ness, if  you  would  be  always  ready  for  your  flight  to  a 
better  state,  and  meet  the  summons  of  your  Lord  to 
paradise. 

There  are  also  many  curious  speculations  and  delight- 
ful amusements  which  may  lawfully  entertain  us  while 
we  are  here  ;  there  are  sports  and  recreations  which 
may  divert  the  flesh  or  the  mind  in  a  lawful  manner^ 
whilst  we  dwell  in  tabernacles  of  flesh  and  blood,  and 
are  encompassed  with  mortal  things.  But  the  soul  that 
is  wrought  for  heaven  must  arise  to  an  holy  indifference 
to  all  the  entertainments  of  flesh  and  sense,  and  time,  if 
it  would  put  on  the  appearance  of  an  heavenly  inhabi- 
tant. Christians  that  would  be  ever  ready  for  the  glo- 
ries of  a  better  world  must  be  such  in  some  measure  as 
the  apostle  describes  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  29?  ^c.  They  must 
rejoice  with  such  moderation  in  their  dearest  comforts  of 
life  as  though  they  rejoiced  not,  they  must  weep  and 
mourn  for  the  loss  of  them  with  such  a  divine  self-gov- 
ernment as  though  they  wept  not,  they  must  buy  as 
though  they  possessed  not,  they  must  use  this  world  as 
not  abusing  it  in  any  instance,  but  must  look  upon  the 
fashions  and  the  scenes  of  it  as  vanishing  things,  and 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  239 

Lave  their  hearts  set  on  the  things  that  are  above  where 
Christ  Jesus  is  at  the  Father^s  right  hand  ;  Collossians 
iii.  1,  2. 

If  you  ask  me  what  methods  the  blessed  God  uses  in 
order  to  attain  these  ends,  and  to  purify  and  refine  the 
soul  for  heaven  ?  I  answer,  he  sometimes  does  it  by  sharp 
strokes  of  affliction,  making  our  interests  in  the  creature 
bitter  to  us,  that  we  may  be  weaned  from  the  relish  of 
them,  and  the  power  of  divine  grace  must  accompany  all 
his  weaning  providences,  or  the  work  will  not  be  done. 

Sometimes  again  he  weans  tlie  soul  from  the  lawful 
things  of  this  world,  by  permitting  our  earthly  enjoy- 
ments to  plunge  us  into  difficulties,  to  seize  the  heart 
witli  anxieties,  or  to  surround  us  with  sore  temptations  ; 
then,  when  we  feel  ourselves  falling  into  sin,  and  bruised 
or  defiled  thereby,  we  lose  our  former  gust  of  pleasure 
in  them ;  and  when  we  are  recovered  by  divine  grace, 
we  are  more  effectually  weaned  from  such  kind  of  temp- 
tations for  the  future  ;  but  it  is  impossible  in  the  com- 
pass of  a  few  lines  to  describe  the  various  methods  which 
the  blessed  God  uses  to  wean  the  spirit  from  all  its 
earthly  attachments,  and  to  work  it  up  to  a  meetness  for 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  Blessed  souls, 
who  are  thus  loosened  and  weaned  from  sensible  things^ 
though  it  be  done  by  painful  sufferings  ! 

4.  The  great  God  not  only  weans  our  hearts  from 
those  things  that  are  not  to  be  enjoyed  in  heaven,  but 
he  gives  us  a  holy  appetite  and  relish  suited  to  the  pro- 
visions of  the  heavenly  world,  and  raises  our  desires  and 
tendencies  of  soul  toitmrds  them.  By  nature  our  minds 
are  estranged  from  God,  and  from  all  that  is  divine  and 
holy  ;  we  have  no  desires  after  his  love,  nor  delight  in 
the  thoughts  of  dwelling  with  God :  but  when  divine 
grace  has  effectually  touched  the  heart,  it  ever  tends 
upwards  to  that  world  of  holiness  and  peace.  So  the 
needle,  when  it  is  touched  by  the  load-stone,  ever  points 


34)0  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

to  the  beloved  pole-star,  and  seems  uneasy  when  it  is 
diverted  from  it,  nor  will  it  rest  till  it  return  thither 
again. 

Do  the  sweet  sensations  of  divine  love  make  up  a 
great  part  of  the  heavenly  blessedness  ?  The  soul  is  in 
some  measure  fitted  for  it,  who  can  say  with  David  in 
Psalm  iv.  7 ;  "  Lord  lift  thou  up  upon  me  the  light  of  thy 
countenance,  and  it  shall  rejoice  my  heart  more  than  if 
corn,  and  wine,  and  oil  abounded,  and  all  earthly  bles- 
sings were  multiplied  upon  me  ;  for  in  thy  love  is  the 
life  of  my  soul,  and  thy  loving  kindness  is  better  than 
life  ;  Psalm  Ixiii. 

Is  the  felicitating  presence  of  God  to  be  enjoyed  in  the 
future  world,  and  shall  we  see  bis  face  there  with  un- 
speakable delight  ?  Then  those  souls  are  prepared  for 
heaven,  who  can  say  with  the  Psalmist,  Psalm  xliii.  2  ; 
Tf  hen  sdall  I  come  and  appear  before  God  P  When 
shall  I  have  finished  my  travels  through  this  wilderness, 
that  I  may  arrive  at  my  Father's  liouse  ?  This  one  thing 
have  I  destined,  that  I  may  dtcell  in  the  house  of  God  for 
ever  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  there  ;  Psal.  xxvii. 
4.  It  is  enough  for  me  that  I  shall  behold  thy  face  in 
righteousness,  and  I  shall  be  satisfied  u'hen  I  awake  out 
of  the  dust  ivith  thy  likeness.  With  my  soul  have  I  de- 
sired  thee,  O  Lord,  in  the  night,  in  the  darkness  of  this 
desert  world  I  have  longed  for  the  light  of  thy  face,  and 
with  my  spirit  within  me,  I  will  seek  thee  early.  Whom 
have  I  in  heaven  but  thee,  neither  is  there  any  on  earth 
that  I  desire  beside  thee ;  Psalm  xvii ;  Isaiah  xxvi ; 
Psalm  Ixxiii.  O  when  shall  the  day  come,  when  there 
shall  be  no  more  distance  and  estrangement  of  my  heart 
from  God,  but  I  shall  feel  all  my  powers  for  ever  near 
him  ? 

Is  the  sweet  society  of  Jesus  to  be  enjoyed  in  the 
heavenly  region,  then  those  are  prepared  for  this  hap- 
piness who  feel  in  themselves  a  desire  to  deimrt]  and  to 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  24*1 

be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better  than  the  most  pleasur- 
able scenes  on  earth ;  Phil.  i.  S3.  I  am  willing  and 
rejoice  in  the  thought  of  it,  rather  to  he  absent  from  the 
body,  and  to  be  jiresent  u-ith  the  Lord  /  2  Cor.  v.  8.  I 
behold  in  the  light  of  faith  the  dawning  glory  of  that 
day,  when  Jesus  shall  return  from  heaven,  when  he 
shall  revisit  this  wretched  world,  and  put  an  end  to  these 
wretched  scenes  of  vanity.  Behold  he  cometh  in  the 
clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see  him.  He  comes  into  our 
world  to  them  that  look  for  him,  not  to  be  made  a  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  but  to  complete  our  salvation.  I  long  to 
behold  him,  and  I  love  the  thought  of  liis  appearance ; 
Rev.  i.  Heb.  ix.  2  Tim.  iv.  &c. 

Is  there  not  only  a  freedom  from  pain  and  sorrow 
among  the  saints  on  high,  but  is  there  also  an  eternal 
release  from  all  the  bonds  of  sin  and  temptation  ?  Then 
that  soul  discovers  a  degree  of  preparation  for  it,  w^ho 
can  say  with  an  holy  groan  and  grief  of  heart,  0  wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body  of 
sin  and  death  P  Rom.  vii.  In  this  tabernacle  ice  groan 
indeed,  being  burdened,  and  are  desirous  rather  to  be 
clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven,  with 
our  holy  state  of  immortality  ;  S  Cor.  v. 

5.  That  God  who  has  w  rought  these  divine  breathings 
in  the  soul,  will  one  day  fulfil  them  all ;  and  he  is 
working  up  the  christian  to  a  blessed  meetness  for  this 
felicity,  by  awakening  these  wishes  in  the  very  centre  of 
the  heart.  Kappy  heart,  which  feels  these  holy  aspi- 
rations, these  divine  breathings  ! 

6.  The  blessed  God  is  pleased  to  work  us  up  to  a 
preparation  for  the  heavenly  world,  by  forming  the  tem- 
per of  our  minds  into  a  likeness  to  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven  ;  that  is,  to  God  himself,  to  Christ  Jesus,  the  Son 
of  God,  to  angels  and  saints,  to  the  spirits  of  the  just 
made  perfect.  From  the  children  of  folly  and  sin,  we 
must  be  transformed  into  the  children  of  God  j  we  must 

81 


22^  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

be  created  anew  after  his  image,  and  resemble  our 
heavenly  Father,  thal^ve  may  be  capable  of  enjoying 
his  love,  and  rejoicing  in  his  presence.  We  must  be 
conformable  to  the  image  of  his  only  begotten  Son  Christ 
Jesus,  and  walk  and  live  as  he  did  in  this  world,  that 
we  may  be  prepared  to  dwell  with  him  in  the  world  to 
come ;  Rom.  viii.  29,  1  John  iv.  17-  We  must  have 
the  same  temper  and  spirit  of  holiness  wrought  in  us, 
that  we  may  be  imitators  of  all  the  holy  ones  that  dwell 
in  heaven,  and  that  we  may  be  followers  of  the  saints 
who  have  been  strangers  and  travellers  in  this  world,  in 
all  former  ages. 

How  can  we  hope  to  have  free  conversation  with 
glorious  beings,  which  are  so  unlike  to  ourselves,  as 
God,  and  Christ,  and  angels,  are  unlike  to  the  sinful 
children  of  men  ?  How  can  we  imagine  ourselves  to  be 
fit  company  for  such  pure  and  perfect  beings,  beauteous, 
and  shining  in  holiness,  while  we  are  defiled  with  the 
iniquities  of  our  natures,  and  ever  falling  into  new  guilt 
and  pollution  ?  Happy  souls,  who  can  say  through 
grace,  I  have  walked  in  the  light  as  God  is  in  the  light, 
and  I  trust,  O  Father,  I  shall  dwell  for  ever  with  tliee 
there.  I  have  been  a  follower  of  the  Lamb  through  the 
thorny  and  rugged  passages  of  this  wilderness,  and  1 
humbly  hope  1  shall  sit  with  thee,  O  Jesus,  upon  a  throne 
glorious  and  holy.  I  have  been  a  companion  of  thera 
who  have  finished  the  Christian  race,  who  have  fouglit 
the  good  fight,  and  obtained  the  victory  :  and  I  trust  I 
shall  have  a  name  and  a  place  amongst  all  you  holy 
ones  who  have  fought  and  overcome.  O  for  a  hearfc  and 
tongue  furnished  for  such  appeals  to  all  the  blessed  in- 
habitants of  paradise,  the  possessors  of  tiiosc  mansions 
on  high  ! 

7.  The  grace  of  God  works  us  up  to  a  preparation 
for  heaven  by  carrying  us  through  those  trials  and  suf- 
ferings, those  labors  and  conflicts  here  in  this  life,  u'hich 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  343 

will  Tiot  only  make  heaven  the  sweeter  to  us,  hut  ivill 
make  it  more  honorable  for  God  himself  to  hestow  this 
heaven  upon  its. 

Wlien  the  spirits  of  a  creature  are  almost  worn  out 
with  the  toilsome  labors  of  the  day,  what  an  additional 
sweetness  does  he  find  in  rest  and  repose?  What  an 
inward  relish  and  satisfaction  to  the  soul,  that  has  been 
fatigued  under  a  long  and  tedious  war  with  sins  and 
temptations,  to  be  transported  to  such  a  place  where  sin 
cannot  follow  them,  and  temptation  can  never  reach 
them?  How  will  it  enhance  all  the  felicities  of  the 
heavenly  world  when  we  enter  into  it,  to  feel  ourselves 
released  from  all  the  trials,  and  distresses,  and  sufierings 
wliicli  we  have  sustained  in  our  travels  thitherwards  ? 
The  review  of  the  waves  and  the  storms  wherein  we  had 
been  tossed  for  a  long  season,  and  had  been  almost  ship- 
wrecked there,  will  make  the  peaceful  haven  of  eternity, 
to  which  we  shall  arrive,  much  more  agreeable  to  every 
one  of  the  suiferers.  2  Cor.  iv.  17;  Our  light  affiictions, 
which  are  hut  for  a  moment,  are  in  this  way,  ivorking 
for  us  afar  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory, 
and  preparing  us  for  the  possession  of  it. 

But  it  should  be  added  also,  that  the  prize  of  life,  and 
the  crown  of  glory,  is  much  more  honorably  bestowed 
on  those  who  have  been  long  figliting,  running,  and  la- 
])oring  to  obtain  it.  Heaven  will  appear  as  a  condecent 
reward  of  all  the  faithful  servants  of  God  upon  earth, 
and  a  divine  recompence  of  their  labors  and  sufferings  ; 
S  Thes.  i.  6  ;  "  As  it  is  a  righteous  thing  with  God  to 
recompense  tribulation  to  them  that  trouble  you,  so  to 
give  to  those  who  are  troubled  rest"  and  salvation. 
This  is  tliat  equitable  or  condecent  fitness  that  God,  as 
governor  of  the  world,  has  wisely  appointed  and  made 
necessary  before  our  entrance  into  heaven.  Christ  him- 
self, our  forerunner,  and  the  captain  of  our  salvation, 
was  made  perfect  through  his  sufferings^  and  was  trained 


244  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN 

up  for  his  throne  on  high,  by  enduring  the  contradiction 
of  sinners,  and  the  variety  of  agonies  which  attended  his 
life  and  death  in  this  lower  world,  this  stage  of  conflict 
and  sufferings.     See  Heb.  ii.  10.  and  xii.  1. 

Though  we  cannot  pretend  by  our  labors  in  the  race 
to  have  merited  the  prize,  yet  we  must  labor  through  the 
race  before  we  receive  it.  Our  conflicts  cannot  pretend 
to  have  deserved  the  crown  which  is  promised,  but  we 
must  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord  before  we  obtain  it. 
This  was  St.  Paul's  encouragement  and  hope ;  2  Tim. 
iv.  7?  8 ;  "I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished 
my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith  ;  henceforth  there  is  laid 
up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord  the 
righteous  Judge  will  give  me,  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to 
all  those  who  love  his  appearance."  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  divine  wisdom  in  this  appointment,  that  the 
children  of  God  may  be  ^^  counted  in  this  sense,  worthy 
of  his  kingdom  for  which  they  also  suiFer ;  2  Thes.  i.  5  ; 
and  that  the  relish  of  those  satisfactions  may  be  doubled 
to  all  the  sufferers. 

8.  God  yet  further  prepares  and  works  up  his  people 
for  heaven,  by  teaching  them  some  of  the  employments 
of  the  heavenly  world,  and  initiating  and  inuring  them  to 
the  practice  thereof.  Is  the  contemjdation  of  the  blessed 
God  in  his  nature  and  his  various  perfections  the  business 
of  glorified  souls  ?  God  teaches  his  children,  whom  he 
is  training  up  for  glory,  to  practise  this  holy  contempla- 
tion. He  fixes  their  thoughts  upon  the  wonders  of  his 
nature  and  his  grace,  his  works  of  creation  and  prov- 
idence, the  blessings  of  his  redeeming  love  by  his  Son 
Jesus,  and  the  terrors  of  his  justice,  which  shall  be  ex- 
ecuted by  the  same  hand,  while  the  soul  at  the  same 
time,  can  appeal  to  God  with  holy  delight.  My  medita- 
tion of  thee  shall  be  sweet  indeed  ;  O  may  I  dwell  fot' 
ever  in  the  midst  of  tliy  light,  and  see  all  thy  wondrous 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN,  ^40 

glories  diffused  around  me^  and  make  my  joys  ever- 
lasting ! 

Are  we  told  that  heaven  consists  also  in  beholding  the 
glory  of  Christ  /  John  xvii.  24.  And  how  happily  does 
God  prepare  his  saints  for  this  part  of  heaven,  by  filling 
their  thoughts  with  the  various  graces  and  honors  of 
Jesus  the  Saviour  ?  And  when  they  are  in  their  lonely 
retirements,  they  trace  the  footsteps  of  their  beloved 
through  all  his  labors  and  sorrows  in  this  mortal  state, 
even  from  his  cradle  to  his  cross ;  they  follow  him  in  their 
holy  meditations  to  his  agonies  in  the  garden,  to  his  an- 
guish of  soul  there  ;  through  all  his  sufferings  in  death, 
through  the  grave  his  bed  of  darkness,  and  trace  him  on 
still  to  his  glorious,  resurrection,  and  to  his  ascent  to  his 
Father's  house,  when  a  bright  cloud,  like  a  chariot,  bore 
him  up  to  heaven  with  attending  angels.  2Viis  is  my 
beloved,  says  the  soul,  and  this  is  my  friend,  whom  I 
shall  see  with  joy  in  the  upper  world.  He  is  altogether 
lovely,  and  he  demands  my  highest  love. 

Is  it  part  of  the  happiness  of  heaven  to  converse  with 
the  blessed  God  by  holy  addresses  of  acknowledgements 
and  praise,  as  it  is  described  in  Rev.  iv.  and  v.  and  vii. 
^'  They  are  before  the  throne  of  God  day  and  night,  and 
serve  him  in  his  temple,"  and  join  with  holy  joy  to  pro- 
nounce that  divine  song,  "  Blessing  and  honor,  and  glory 
and  power,  be  to  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  to 
the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.  Worthy  art  thou,  O  Lord, 
to  receive  glory  and  honor,  for  thou  hast  created  all 
things  for  thy  pleasure :  worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  strength,  glory  and 
blessing,  for  thou  was  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  unto 
God  by  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred  and  nation."  Now 
it  is  evident  that  those  whose  hearts  and  lips  are  joyfully 
fitted  to  pronounce  this  holy  song,  and  to  join  in  this 
harmony,  is  fitted  also  for  these  blessed  employments  of 
the  heavenly  state :  and  yet  at  the  same  time  they  abase 


246  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

themselves  in  the  dust  of  humility,  and  with  tlie  living 
creatures  or  angels  they  fall  down  before  the  throne,  and 
with  the  elders  they  cast  down  their  crowns  at  his  foot 
they  confess  themselves  the  sons  of  earth  and  dust,  and 
would  appear  as  nothing  while  Grod  is  all ;  Rev.  iv.  9, 
10,  and  V.  8. 

Are  all  the  powers  of  glorified  nature  in  heaven  active 
in  tlie  unknown  services  of  God  and  Christ  there  ?  So 
the  Saints  are  trained  up  for  this  service  and  this  activity 
here  on  earth,  by  diligence  and  delight  in  their  less 
noble  employments,  the  inferior  labors  and  duties  that 
providence  demands  of  them  here,  whereby  they  are 
prepared  for  more  glorious  employment  on  high ;  for 
heaven  is  no  idle  or  inactive  state. 

Do  some  of  the  satisfactions  of  the  heavenly  world 
arise  from  the  sweet  society  of  the  blessed  above,  their 
fervent  love  to  eacli  other,  tlieir  mutual  delight  in  holy 
converse,  the  joy  that  arises  in  tlie  heart  of  each  upon  a 
survey  of  the  happiness  of  all  the  holy  and  blessed  in- 
habitants ?  Does  benevolence  and  goodness  of  every 
kind  overflow  in  the  heavenly  world  ?  It  is  plain  that 
God  is  training  up  his  own  children  for  this  blessedness, 
by  employing  them  in  this  manner  while  they  are  here 
below  :  he  is  in  some  measure  fitted  for  this  heaven, 
who  can  say,  the  saints  are  the  excellent  of  the  earthy  in 
whom  is  all  my  delight.  I  love  them  from  my  soul, 
because  they  love  my  God  and  my  Saviour.  I  see  the 
image  of  the  Father,  and  of  Jesus  his  Son  in  thera,  and 
I  cannot  but  love  that  image  wheresoever  I  behold  it. 
I  feel  myself  ready  to  rejoice  when  my  fellow  christians 
partake  of  joy,  and  I  long  for  that  temper  of  mind  when 
I  shall  delight  myself  in  the  felicity  of  all  my  fellow 
saints  in  perfection,  and  shall  make  their  heaven  a  part 
of  my  own.  Bat  I  proceed  not  here,  because  tliis  would 
anticipate  what  I  design  hereafter. 

9.  God  is  pleased  to  work  up  his  people  to  a  prepar- 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN,  247 

ation  for  the  heavenly  state,  by  giving  them  a  pledge  and 
earnest  of  the  blessedness  of  heaven^  that  is,  by  sending 
his  own  spirit  into  their  hearts  under  this  very  charac- 
ter, both  as  the  spring  of  a  divine  life,  and  as  the  evi- 
dence of  our  hope,  and  sometimes  bestowing  upon  them 
such  foretastes  of  the  heavenly  world,  by  the  operations  of 
his  holy  spirit,  which  are  too  joyful  and  glorious  to  be 
fully  expressed  in  mortal  language  ;  but  we  shall  attempt 
something  of  it  in  another  discourse. 

I  proceed  now  to  seek  what  inferences  or  edifying 
remarks  may  be  made  upon  our  meditations  thus  far. 

Remark  1.  We  learn  from  my  text  what  are  the 
brightest,  the  plainest,  and  the  surest  evidences  of  our 
interest  in  the  heavenly  blessedness.  Are  ive  trained  up 
to  it,  and  prejjaredfor  it  f  Has  the  blessed  God  wrought 
up  our  souls  to  any  hopeful  degrees  of  this  preparation  ? 
Has  he  in  any  measure  made  us  meet  for  tliis  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light  ? 

I  grant  the  scripture  teaches  us,  that  it  is  ]>y  a  true  and 
living  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  tJiat  we  obtain  a 
title  to  eternal  life,  according  to  the  proposals  of  the 
covenant  of  grace  in  the  gospel ;  but  our  preparation  for 
heaven  by  a  holy  and  heavenly  temper  of  mind  and 
conduct  of  life,  is  the  fairest  and  most  incontested  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  and  life  of  our  faith,  and  such  a  proof 
of  it  as  will  stand  the  test  both  in  life  and  deatii,  in  this 
world,  and  in  the  world  to  come.  If  we  would  manifest 
our  faith  in  Christ  to  be  sincere  and  genuine  and  effec- 
tual for  our  salvation,  we  must  make  it  appear  that  we 
are  growing  up  into  tlie  image  of  Christ  in  all  things, 
we  must  be  formed  after  tlie  likeness  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  is  our  great  example,  and  our  fore-runner  into 
heaven  ;  and  where  this  evidence  is  found  the  soul  cannot 
fail  of  salvation.  Wheresoever  there  is  this  fitnf  ss  for 
the  joys  on  high,  God  will  assuredly  bestow  these  divine 
pleasures.     It  is  for  such  souls  that  he  has  prepared   a 


24B  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

heaven,  and  when  he  has  prepared  such  souls  for  the 
heavenly  world,  he  will  surely  bring  them  to  the  pos- 
session of  it. 

Of  how  great  moment  and  importance  is  it  then  for 
each  of  us  to  examine  ourselves  with  watchful  diligence 
and  sincerity,  whether  we  are  in  any  measure  iitted  for 
the  blessedness  above.  And  to  this  end  we  may  run 
over  in  our  inquiries  all  the  former  steps  of  preparation. 

Let  us  inquire  of  our  souls  then,  am  I  so  fully  per- 
suaded of  this  state  of  future  happiness,  as  to  resolve, 
this  shall  be  my  aim,  tliis  my  everlasting  pursuit  ?  Have 
we  seen  this  blessedness  in  the  various  representations 
of  it  in  the  word  of  God,  as  the  most  amiable  and  desira- 
ble thing,  and  have  we  set  our  faces  to  travel  tiiither 
with  an  holy  purpose  and  determination,  through  grace, 
never  to  tire,  or  grow  weary  till  we  arrive  at  tlie  enjoy- 
ment of  it  ?  Have  we  fixed  our  hope  and  expectation 
upon  the  blessed  promises  in  the  word,  and  are  we  by 
these  promises,  endeavoring  daily  to  cleanse  ourselves 
from  all  defilements  of  flesh  and  spirit,  and  to  perfect 
lioliness  in  the  fear  of  G  od  ?  Do  we  obtain  any  victories 
over  our  spiritual  enemies,  and  maintain  our  pious  con- 
flicts against  all  the  oppositions  which  we  meet  with  in  our 
way  ?  Do  we  labor  to  suppress  every  rising  ferment  of 
envy,  pride,  wrath,  sensuality,  and  those  corrupt  appe- 
tites and  passions  which  render  us  unfit  for  that  lioly  and 
heavenly  world  ?  Are  your  hearts  daily  more  mortified 
to  the  things  of  tliis  world,  the  enjoyments  of  flesh  and 
sense,  which  are  not  to  be  found  in  heaven?  Are  our 
hearts  more  weaned  from  the  sensual  satisfactions  and 
intemperate  delights  of  the  animal  life  !  Are  we  dead  to 
the  temptations  of  gold  and  silver,  the  grandeurs  and  the 
gaieties,  and  splendors  of  this  present  low  life  of  flesh 
and  blood,  which  are  no  part  nor  portion  of  the  heavenly 
felicity?  Do  we  view  the  tempting  things  of  this  world 
with  an  holy  indifference,  and  possess  and  use  them  with 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  ^4,9 

aff'ections  so  calm  and  so  cool,  as  becomes  a  rank  of  be- 
ings that  have  a  nobler,  a  richer,  and  a  more  exalted 
hope  ?  Have  we  found  the  labors  and  burdens,  the  sor- 
rows and  aflftictions  of  the  present  state,  happy  instru- 
ments to  prepare  us  for  the  blessedness  above,  by  curing 
all  our  vain  and  carnal  desires  ?  Are  we  in  any  measure 
imitators  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us  through  faith 
and  j^atience,  and  are  made  possessors  of  the  promised 
joy?  Are  we  followers  of  God  as  dear  children  f  Have 
we  the  image  of  our  heavenly  Father  created  anew  in  us^ 
and  do  we  walk  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  also  walked, 
while  he  was  in  this  wilderness  travelling  to  his  Father's 
house  ?  Are  our  earnest  desires  towards  tliis  sort  of  feli- 
city excit'Ml  and  raised  high  ?  Have  we  a  strong  tendency 
of  soul  to  the  holy  enjoyments  of  the  upper  world  ?  Do 
we  sigh  and  grcan  after  a  complete  freedom  fi'om  sin^ 
and  a  delivei'ance  from  every  temptation  ?  Do  we  em- 
ploy oiu'selves  with  pleasure  in  tlie  work  and  business  of 
heaven,  in  the  holy  contemplation  of  God,  in  a  delightful 
survey  of  the  person  and  offices  of  liis  Son  Jesus,  his 
wondrous  condescension,  and  his  amazing  compassion  ? 
Do  we  take  pleasure  in  conversing  with  God  our  Father 
by  holy  addresses  of  praise  and  thankfulness  ?  Do  we 
love  all  the  saints,  and  delight  in  their  society,  and  do 
we  rejoice  to  spend  our  time  with  them  in  heavenly  con- 
versation, though  they  may  be  amongst  the  lower  ranks 
of  life  here  on  earth?  And  do  we  diffuse  our  love  through 
all  who  wear  the  image  of  God,  and  take  a  pleasing 
satisfaction  of  soul  in  their  increase  in  holiness,  and 
rejoice  in  their  joys  ? 

If  God  has  thus  fitted  tliee,  O  christian,  in  this  man- 
ner for  the  mansions  of  the  happy  world,  then  surely  he 
has  set  thee  apart  for  himself,  he  has  begun  eternal  life, 
in  thee,  the  dawn  of  eternal  glory  is  risen  upon  thee,  and 
he  will  bring  thee  into  the  complete  noon  of  blessedness, 
into  the  overflowing  light  of  divine  beatitudes.     Arise 


g50  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

and  sliinc  O  christian,  for  thy  life  is  come,  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee  ;  thou  liast  no  need  to  as- 
cend into  heaven  to  search  for  thy  evidencies  among  the 
decrees  of  God,  and  to  pry  into  the  rolls  of  electing 
grace ;  for  if  thou  hast  been  transformed  into  an  lieavenly 
temper,  tliy  name  is  surely  written  in  the  Lamb's  book 
of  life ;  heaven  is  begun  within  thee,  and  God  will 
fulfil  his  own  work. 

Remark  2.  What  a  solid  comfort  is  it  to  poor  mourn- 
ing,troubled^  afflicted  souls  under  all  their  sorrows,  their 
fr'ailties,  their  temptations^  and  infirmities  here  on  earth, 
that  they  have  a  clear  evidence  of  heaven  within  them. 
This  is  such  a  peace  as  Jesus  Clirist  left  to  his  disciples 
by  legacy;  John  xiv.  37-  Such  as  the  world  cannot  give, 
and  such  as  the  world  cannot  take  away. 

This  is  a  spring  of  constant  and  divine  consolation  to 
those  who  seem  to  be  worn  out  with  old  age  or  infirmi- 
ties of  nature,  and  they  complain  they  are  fit  for  no 
service  in  this  world  ;  but  if  they  can  feel  in  themselves 
this  holy  fitness  for  the  enjoyments  of  heaven,  they  have 
a  rich  and  living  fountain  of  pleasure  in  their  own  breasts, 
ever  springing,  ever  flowing,  and  such  as  will  follow 
them  with  daily  supplies  of  pleasure,  if  they  are  not 
wanting  to  themselves,  through  all  this  wilderness,  till 
they  arrive  at  that  land  where  all  the  rivers  of  blessing 
meet  and  join  in  a  full  stream,  to  make  the  inhabitants 
for  ever  happy. 

It  may  be,  O  christian,  thou  art  afraid  that  thou  liast 
felt  but  little  of  this  divine  preparation  ;  thou  seest  so 
many  defects  in  thyself  daily,  so  mnch  unlikeness  to 
God,  so  much  w  orking  of  iniquity,  such  restless  efforts 
of  the  body  of  sin,  so  much  prevalence  of  temptation,  so 
much  coldness  in  duty,  such  deadness  in  acts  of  devotion, 
such  frequent  returns  of  guilt  and  pain  in  a  tender  con- 
science, and  so  many  enemies  to  struggle  with  every 
step  of  thy  way  to  heaven^  tliat  thou  art  greatly  discoura- 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  251 

ged  and  afraid  this  divine  preparation  is  not  wrought  ia 
thee.  Enquire  then  yet  further,  are  all  these  melancholy 
scenes  both  within  and  without,  the  matter  of  thy  sincere 
grief  and  burden  ?  Canst  thou  say  in  this  tabernacle,  I 
groan,  being  burdened  with  the  body  of  sin,  as  well  as 
with  the  frailties  and  pains  of  nature  ?  Canst  thou  say 
sincerely,  that  thy  inmost  desires  are  towards  God  and 
his  glory  in  the  present  life,  and  towards  his  enjoyment 
in  the  life  to  come  ?  Dost  thou  maintain  a  constant  con- 
verse with  heaven  as  well  as  thou  canst,  though  it  be  so 
much  broken,  and  so  often  painfully  interrupted  ?  Hast 
thou  a  continual  and  settled  aversion  and  hatred  to  sin 
and  a  holy  jealousy  and  fear  of  its  defilements  ?  Hast 
thou  a  restless  breathing  of  soul  after  greater  likeness 
to  God,  and  greater  communion  with  him  ?  Dost  thou 
delight  in  spiritual  and  holy  conversation  ;  and  does 
thy  zeal  for  the  honor  of  God  and  his  Son  Jesus,  carry 
thee  forth  to  those  actions  which  are  suitable  to  thy 
station,  for  the  advancement  of  religion  in  the  world  ? 
Be  assured  then  that  God  is  training  thee  up  for  this 
heavenly  state,  and  has  in  some  measure  prepared  thee 
for  it.  God  has  begun  in  thee  the  business  and  blessed- 
ness of  the  upper  world.  In  the  midst  of  all  thy  sorrows 
and  complaints  here  below,  peace  be  with  thee,  and  joy 
in  the  Lord,  for  thy  salvation  and  thy  felicity  shall  be 
completed. 

Remark  3.  How  vain,  and  idle,  and  unreasonable  are 
all  the  hopes  of  sinners,  that  they  shall  ever  arrive  at 
heaven  without  any  preparation  for  it  here  P  There  is 
nothing  divine  and  holy  begun  in  them  in  this  world, 
and  yet  they  hope  to  be  made  happy  in  the  world  that 
is  to  come  ;  there  is  nothing  of  true  grace  in  their  hearts 
here,  and  yet  they  vainly  expect  to  be  made  perfect  in 
pleasure  and  glory  hereafter. 

Think  with  thyself,  O  carnal  creature,  that  heaven 
will  be  a  burden  to  thee  ;  the  powers^  the  appetites,  and 


252  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

passions  of  thy  sinful  nature,  will  not  suffer  thee  to 
relish  the  joys  of  the  heavenly  state.  Dost  thou  ima- 
gine that  a  worm  or  serpent  of  the  earth,  or  a  swine 
which  is  ever  tumbling  in  the  mire,  can  be  entertained 
with  the  golden  ornaments  and  splendors  of  a  palace  ? 
Or  will  the  stupid  ass  be  delighted  with  the  harmony  of 
a  harp  or  viol  ?  No  more  can  a  soul  of  a  carnal  and 
sensual  taste,  and  which  is  ever  seeking  and  grovelling 
after  earthly  gratifications,  be  pleased  or  gratified  with 
the  refined  enjoyments  of  the  heavenly  world.  Thou 
must  have  a  new  nature,  new  appetites  and  new  affections, 
ere  thou  canst  partake  of  divine  joys,  or  relish  them  if 
thou  wert  placed  in  the  midst  of  them.  Holy  adoration 
of  God,  and  humble  converse  with  him  in  worship,  con- 
verse with  the  saints  about  divine  things,  perfect  purity 
and  devotion,  with  the  meditation  of  the  excellencies  of 
Christ,  and  the  sight  of  him  in  his  ordinances,  have 
never  yet  been  the  object  of  thy  delight  or  joy  ;  nay, 
they  have  rather  been  thine  aversion  ;  and  shouldst  thou 
have  the  gates  of  heaven  open  before  thee,  and  see  what 
business  the  holy  souls  there  are  employed  in,  thou 
wouldst  find  no  desire  to  such  sort  of  satisfactions  ;  the 
place  and  the  company  would  be  thy  burden,  if  thou 
couldst  be  let  at  once  into  the  midst  of  them. 

Think  again,  O  sinful  wretch,  thy  carnality  of  soul, 
thy  supreme  love  of  sensual  and  brutal  joys,  the  secret 
malice  or  envy,  the  pride  and  impiety  of  thy  heart, 
have  prepared  thee  for  another  sort  of  company  ;  thou 
art  fitted  for  hell  by  the  very  temper  of  thy  spirit,  for 
such  are  the  inhabitants  of  that  miserable  world,  and 
in  thy  present  state  there  can  be  no  admission  for  thee 
into  heaven.  Thou  hast  treasured  up  food  for  the  worm 
that  never  dies,  for  the  eternal  anguish  of  conscience  ; 
thou  hast  made  thyself  fit  fuel  by  indulgence  of  thy 
sinful  and  rebellious  appetites  and  passions,  for  the  fiery 
indignation  of  God ;  and  every  day  tliou  persisteth  in 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  ^53 

ihis  state,  thy  preparation  for  the  dark  regions  of  sin 
and  sorrow  is  increased.  But  this  leads  me  to  the  last 
remark. 

Remark  4.  How  dangerous  a  thing  it  is  for  a  sinner 
to  continue  a  day  longer  in  a  state  so  unprepared  for  the 
heavenly  world.  Dost  thou  not  know,  whilst  we  are  in- 
habitants in  these  regions  of  mortality,  we  are  borderers 
upon  death  ;  and  if  we  are  unprepared  for  heaven,  we 
are  borderers  upon  damnation  and  hell  ?  Our  life  is  but 
a  vapor,  and  the  next  puff  may  blow  us  away  into  the 
regions  of  everlasting  darkness,  misery  and  despair. 

Alas  !  How  much  of  this  divine  preparation  do  the 
best  of  saints  stand  in  need  of  for  an  immediate  entrance 
into  heaven  ?  What  care  do  they  take,  how  constant 
are  their  labors,  and  how  fervent  their  prayers  to  in- 
crease in  this  divine  fitness,  in  these  holy  and  heavenly 
qualifications?  And  dost  thou  vainly  imagine  to  exchange 
earth  for  heaven  at  once,  and  to  be  received  into  the 
pure  and  holy  mansions  of  paradise,  "without  any  con- 
formity to  God  or  Christ,  or  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants 
of  that  world  ? 

Objection.  But  some  idle  and  slothful  creatures  will 
be  ready  to  object  and  say,  if  it  be  God  who  creates  his 
people  anew,  according  to  his  own  image,  and  fits  them 
for  heaven  ;  if  we  must  be  wrought  up  by  his  power 
and  grace  for  the  participation  of  his  glory,  what  can 
we  do  towards  it  ourselves  ?  Or  why  are  we  charged 
and  exhorted  to  prepare  ourselves  for  heaven  ?  Since 
then  it  is  God  must  do  this  work,  why  may  we  not  lie 
still,  and  wait  till  his  grace  shall  prepare  us  ? 

I  answer,  no,  by  no  means  ;  for  God  is  wont  to  exert 
his  grace  only  while  creatures  are  in  the  use  of  his  ap- 
pointments, and  fulfil  their  duty.  This  language  there- 
fore, and  these  excuses,  seem  to  be  the  mere  cavils  of  a 
carnal  mind,  or  the  voice  of  sloth  and  indolence.  Those 
who  have  no  inclination  to  prepare  themselves  for  the 


S54  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

joys  of  tlie  heavenly  state,  may  wait  and  expect  divine 
influences  in  vain,  if  tiiey  will  never  stir  up  themselves 
to  practise  what  is  in  their  own  power,  and  to  attempt 
what  the  gospel  of  grace  demands. 

In  almost  all  the  transactions  of  God  with  men,  it  is 
^e  way  of  his  wisdom  to  join  our  diligence  and  his  grace 
together ;  and  there  are  many  scriptures  that  give  us 
sufHcient  notice  of  this.  See  how  St.  Paul  argues  with 
the  Philippians,  and  stirs  them  up  to  zeal  and  activity  in 
securkig  their  own  salvation  by  the  hope  of  divine  as- 
sistances ;  Phil.  ii.  13.  13  ;  Tfork  out  your  own  salva- 
tion, for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both  to  ivill  and  to 
do.  So  said  David  to  his  son  Solomon,  when  he  ap- 
pointed him  to  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord  ;  1  Chron. 
xxviii.  20  ;  Be  strong  and  ofs!;ood  courage,  and  doit, — 
for  the  Lord  God,  even  my  God,  will  be  with  thee,  and 
icill  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee,  till  thou  hast  finished 
all  the  work.  This  was  the  charge  also  that  God  gave 
to  his  people  Israel,  Lev.  xx.  7?  8.  Sanctify  yourselves 
and  be  ye  holy,  keep  my  statutes;  lam  the  Lord  who 
sanctifieth  you.  So  the  Psalmist  tells  ns ;  Psalm  iv.  3. 
The  Lord  hath  set  apart,  or  separated  him  ivho  is  godly 
for  himself ;  and  yet,  2  Cor.  vi.  17?  The  Lord  com- 
mands his  people  to  separate  themselves  unto  him,  to 
come  out  from  amongst  the  sinners  of  tliis  world  ;  and 
be  you  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  icill  receive  you. 
So  in  other  places  of  scripture,  divine  wisdom  commands 
sinners  to  fulfil  their  duty  ;  Prov.  i.  23.  Turn  ye  at  my 
reproof  And  yet  in  the  80th  Psalm,  the  church  prays, 
turn  us  0  Lord,  and  we  shall  be  saved.  The  case  is 
very  much  the  same  even  in  the  things  that  relate  to  this 
life,  wherein  divine  assistance  and  blessing  are  connect- 
ed with  our  diligence  in  duty.  Solomon  tells  us  ;  Prov. 
X.  4  ;  Tlie  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich  ;  and  yet, 
verse  22,  It  is  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  that  maketh 
rich  also.     We  can  never  expect  tlie  favors. of  heaven, 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN,  S55 

unless  we  are  zealous  to  obey  the  commands  of  heaven. 

When  the  sinful  children  of  men  are  found  waiting 
on  God  in  his  own  appointed  ordinances,  then  they  are 
in  the  fairest  way  to  receive  divine  communications,  and 
be  transformed  into  saints.  If  the  blind  man  had  not 
obeyed  the  voice  of  Christ,  John  ix.  7?  and  washed  him- 
self in  the  pool  of  Siloam,  he  could  not  expect  to  have 
received  his  eye-sight.  If  the  man  with  the  withered 
hand  ;  Matthew  xii.  10,  13,  had  not  used  his  own  en- 
deavors to  stretch  forth  his  hand  at  the  command  of 
Christ,  I  can  hardly  believe  it  would  liave  been  re- 
stored to  its  ancient  vigor  and  usefulness.  If  the  poor 
impotent  creature  had  not  been  waiting  at  the  side  of 
the  pool  in  Bethesda  ;  John  v.  he  had  not  met  with  the 
blessed  Jesus,  nor  been  healed  by  his  miraculous  power. 
You  will  say,  perhaps,  that  our  blessed  Saviour  could 
have  visited  him  in  his  own  house,  could  have  directed 
his  journey  towards  his  habitation,  or  have  sent  for  him 
into  the  public,  and  hea.led  him  there.  No,  our  Lord 
did  not  chuse  either  of  these  wa^'S  ;  but  while  the  man 
was  waiting  at  the  pool,  where  he  had  encouragement 
to  hope  for  a  cure,  there  the  Lord  found  him,  and  heal- 
ed him. 

Let  not  any  presuming  sinner  therefore,  who  is  sensi- 
ble of  his  own  unfitness  for  heaven,  dare  to  continue  in  a 
careless  indifference  about  so  important  a  concern.  Let 
him  not  put  off  his  own  conscience  with  this  foolish 
excuse.  It  is  God  must  do  all  in  us  and  for  us,  and  there- 
fore I  will  do  nothing  myself.  Dost  thou  think,  O  soul, 
that  this  will  be  a  suiBcient  answer  to  him  that  shall 
judge  thee  in  the  great  and  solemn  day  ?  May  you  not 
expect  to  hear  the  Judge  reply  terribly  to  such  an  excuse, 
"^  You  never  sought  after  this  preparation  for  heaven, 
and  you  must  be  plunged  into  hell,  for  which  your  own 
rebellion  and  slothfulness  hath  prepared  you." 

But  perhaps  you  will  object  a^ain,  what  can  so  feeble, 


356  A  SOUL  PRBPAUED  FOR  HEAVEN 

SO  sinful  a  creature  as  I  am,  do  towards  this  divine 
work  ? 

I  answer.  Canst  thou  not  separate  one  quarter  of  an 
hour  dailv,  to  think  of  thy  dreadful  circumstances,  and 
thine  eternal  danger,  in  a  sinful  and  defiled  state  of  soul  ? 
Think  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and  how  sudden  thy 
summons  may  be  into  the  eternal  and  unchangeable 
state.  Survey  thyself  in  thy  sinful  condition  both  of 
heart  and  life,  and  see  how  unfit  thou  art  for  the  com- 
pany of  all  the  holy  ones  above.  Meditate  on  tliese  thy 
perilous  circumstances,  till  thy  heart  be  deeply  affected 
therewith ;  fall  down  before  God  in  humble  acknowl- 
edgment of  thy  former  guilt  and  pollutions.  Give  up 
thyself  to  him  with  holy  solemnity,  to  have  thy  heart 
turned  away  from  every  sin,  and  strongly  inclined  to  ho- 
liness and  heaven.  Commit  thy  soul,  guilty  and  defiled 
as  it  is,  into  the  hands  of  Jesus  the  Mediator ;  entrust 
thy  case  with  him  as  an  ail-sufficient  Saviour ;  entreat 
that  he  would  cleanse  thee  from  all  tliy  guilt  and  pollu- 
tion, by  the  blood  of  his  sacrifice,  and  the  grace  of  his 
Spirit ;  that  blood  of  atonement  which  has  procured  for 
vsinners  pardon  and  peace  with  God,  and  those  opera- 
tions of  his  grace  which  may  sanctify  thy  sinful  nature. 
Address  thyself  to  the  exalted  Saviour,  for  healing  in- 
fluences from  his  hand,  to  cure  all  the  maladies  of  thy 
soul,  to  form  thee  after  his  image,  and  to  make  thee  a 
son  of  God.  Pray  with  holy  importunity  for  this  neces- 
sary and  divine  Idessing ;  wait  on  God  in  secret  and 
in  public ;  give  him  no  rest  night  nor  day,  till  he  has  re- 
newed thy  soul,  and  transformed  thee  into  a  new  crea- 
ture, and  given  thee  a  relish  of  the  heavenly  enjoyments. 
Dwell  at  the  throne  of  grace  till  thou  feelest  thy  heart 
drawn  upward  and  heavenward ;  and  watch  against 
every  thing  that  would  defile  thy  soul  anew,  or  make 
thee  unfit  to  enter  into  the  company  of  the  blessed. 

Permit  me  here  to  dwell  a  little  upon  those  motives 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  ^5*^ 

that  should  awaken  thee  to  bethink  thyself  ere  it  he  too 
late,  before  the  grave  has  shut  its  mouth  upon  thee,  and 
thou  art  consigned  to  the  place  of  eternal  misery. 
Awake,  awake,  O  impenitent  sinners,  who  are  as  yet 
unprepared  for  the  business  and  blessedness  of  the 
heavenly  state  ;  awake,  and  exert  your  souls  in  warmest 
reflections  on  matters  of  infinite  importance. 

1.  Think  with  yourselves  how  much  the  great  God 
has  done  towards  the  preparation  of  sinful  men  for  this 
heaven  ;  think  seriously  of  his  long  suffering  goodness, 
and  his  sparing  mercy,  which  should  have  led  you  long 
ago  to  a  melting  sense  of  your  own  folly,  and  brought 
you  back  unto  him  by  humble  repentance.  For  what 
reason  were  his  patience  and  his  long  suffering  exercised 
towards  you,  if  not  for  this  very  purpose  ?  Rom.  ii.  4. 
Think  of  the  blessings  of  nature  with  which  he  has  sur- 
rounded you,  and  the  comforts  of  this  life  wherewith  he 
has  furnished  you,  in  order  to  allure  your  thoughts 
towards  him,  who  is  the  spring  of  all  goodness,  and  to 
raise  your  desires  towards  him.  It  is  he  invites  you, 
who  will  be  the  everlasting  portion  and  happiness  of  his 
people,  and  in  whose  favor  consists  life  and  felicity; 
and  dare  not  any  longer  neglect  your  preparation  f.*r  this 
happiness,  which  consists  in  the  enjoyment  of  God,  lest 
you  should  be  cut  off  before  you  are  prepared. 

2.  Consider  again  what  Jesus  the  Son  of  God  has 
done  and  suffered,  and  consider  what  he  is  yet  doing 
towards  the  preparation  of  souls  for  heaven.  He  came 
down  to  our  world  to  undertake  the  glorious  and  dread- 
ful work  of  the  redemption  of  sinners  from  the  curse  of 
the  law  and  the  terrors  of  hell,  and  to  procure  a  heaven 
for  every  rebellious  creature  that  would  return  to  God 
his  Father.  Think  of  the  agonies  of  his  death  with 
which  he  purchased  mansions  of  glory  for  those  that  re- 
ceive his  grace  in  his  own  appointed  methods,  those  that 
are  willing  to  have  their  hearts  and  minds  formed  into  a 

33 


S58  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

suitable  frame  to  receive  this  felicity.  Remember  that 
he  is  risen  from  the  tleail,  he  is  ascended  to  prepare  a 
place  in  glory  for  those  that  are  willing  to  follow  him 
through  the  paths  of  holiness.  Hearken  to  the  many 
kind  invitations  and  allurements  of  his  gospel,  which 
calls  to  the  worst  of  sinners  to  return  and  live,  and  en- 
treats and  exhorts  those  who  are  in  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
and  upon  the  borders  of  hell,  to  look  unto  him  that  they 
may  be  saved  ;  Isai.  xlv.  22.  Take  heed  that  you  suf- 
fer not  these  seasons  of  his  inviting  love  to  slide  away 
and  vanish  unimproved  ;  take  heed  how  you  rebel 
against  the  language  of  the  grace  of  his  gospel,  and 
thereby  prepare  yourselves  for  double  and  everlasting 
destruction. 

3.  Think  again,  what  blessed  assistances  he  has  pro- 
posed to  those  who  are  desirous  to  be  trained  up  for 
heaven  ;  how  many  thousand  souls,  as  carnal,  as  sensual, 
and  as  criminal  as  yours  are,  have  been  recovered  by  the 
word  of  his  gospel,  and  the  iniiuences  of  his  Spirit,  to  a 
new  nature  and  life  of  holiness?  How  many  are  there 
w  ho,  from  children  of  wrath,  have  become  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  most  high  God,  heirs  of  this  blessed- 
ness, and  prepared  for  the  enjoyment  of  it?  O  take 
lieed  that  you  resist  not  this  grace,  nor  rebel  against  the 
kind  and  sacred  motions  of  the  blessed  Spirit  w  ithin  you, 
when  his  very  office  and  business  is  to  change  your  sin- 
ful natures,  and  to  prepare  you  for  the  regions  of  eternal 
holiness  and  |>eace. 

4.  Think  yet  further  what  advantages  you  have  had 
from  tlie  weekly  ministrations  of  the  word  of  grace,  from 
reading  the  book  of  God  in  your  own  language,  and 
from  the  pious  education  many  of  you  have  enjoyetl  in 
the  families  from  whence  you  sprung.  Think  what 
awakening  hints  you  have  received  by  the  inward  con- 
Aiction  of  your  own  consciences,  and  by  the  christian 
friends  you  may  have  conversed  with.     Have  you  not 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  25Q 

been  told  plainly  enough  by  the  voice  of  conscience,  that 
you  ave  now  utterly  unprepared  for  heaven  ?  Have  not 
public  and  private  admonitions  given  you  sufficient  warn- 
ing of  the  danger  of  your  present  state  ?  And  after  all 
this  will  you  proceed  in  your  own  sinful  course,  till  you 
arrive  at  the  veiy  gates  of  hell  and  destruction,  till  you 
have  prepared  yourselves,  and  made  your  souls  ripe  for 
the  vengeance  of  God,  and  are  plunged  into  it  by  death, 
without  remedy  or  relief? 

5.  Consider  how  dreadful  will  your  state  be  if  death 
meet  you  in  all  your  guilt  and  defilements,  unwashed, 
unpardoned,  and  unsanctified,  without  any  garment  of 
rigliteousness,  without  any  robe  of  salvation.  What  a 
terrible  sentence  is  that  whicli  death  will  pronounce  upon 
every  such  sinner,  the  moment  that  he  strikes  their  heart  ? 
Hear  it  and  tremble,  O  miserable  creature,  hear  the  for- 
midable and  eternal  sentence,  Let  him  that  is  unholy  be 
unholy  still :  let  him  that  is  unprepared  for  heaven  go 
down  to  tlie  regions  of  death  and  hell,  for  which  his 
iniquities  have  best  prepared  him. 

6.  Think  with  yourselves,  if  you  have  any  thing  of 
importance  to  do  in  this  world,  or  have  any  momentous 
scene  of  life  to  pass  through,  how  diligent  are  you  in 
preparation  for  it.  If  you  are  but  to  visit  the  court  of  a 
prince,  or  to  go  to  make  your  addresses  to  any  great  man 
of  honor  and  power,  or  to  be  admitted  into  any  numer- 
ous society  of  a  superior  character,  how  diligently  do  you 
endeavor  to  furnish  yourselves  with  such  knowledge  of 
the  common  ceremonies  of  life,  and  such  ornaments  about 
your  body  as  may  render  you  acceptable  amongst  those 
whom  you  are  going  to  converse  with.  And  does  not 
an  entrance  into  the  court  of  heaven,  into  the  presence  of 
a  God  of  holiness,  and  into  the  society  of  pure  and  blessed 
spirits,  require  some  solicitude  and  care  about  those  or- 
naments and  qualifications  which  are  necessary  for  so 
solemn  and  glorious  an  appearance  ?     If  you  are  design- 


1360  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

ing  in  this  life  to  commence  any  tirade  or  business  for 
your  support,  you  are  willing  to  serve  an  apprenticeship 
of  seven  years,  in  order  to  a  preparation  for  the  exercise 
of  this  public  business  ;  and  can  you  not  afford  one  day 
in  a  week  to  learn  the  business  of  heaven,  and  to  prepare 
for  the  blessedness  of  it  ? 

And  let  parents  also  consider  with  themselves  what 
pains  they  have  taken  that  their  children  may  be  fit  for 
the  trades  and  employments  of  life  to  wliich  they  design 
them,  and  then  let  each  enquire  of  their  own  consciences, 
have  I  ever  done  so  much  to  train  up  my  son  for  the 
heavenly  world,  to  fit  him  for  the  appearance  before 
God,  and  saints,  and  angels,  and  for  all  the  unknown 
services  of  that  celestial  country  ? 

7-  Cro  on  yet  further,  O  impenitent  sinners,  and  con- 
sider with  yourselves,  what  a  blessedness  it  is  to  be 
prepared  for  heaven  ;  for  then  you  are  prepared  for 
death  ;  and  at  once  you  take  away  all  the  terrors  of  it. 
O  what  an  unspeakable  happiness  is  it  to  pass  through 
this  world  daily,  without  fear  of  dying ;  what  is  it  that 
makes  life  so  bitter  to  multitudes  of  souls,  and  every 
malady  or  accident  so  frightful  to  them,  but  the  perpet- 
ual terrors  of  death  ?  Think  what  a  divine  satisfaction 
it  is  to  walk  up  and  down  in  this  desert  land,  ready  pre- 
pared for  an  entrance  into  the  land  of  promise,  the  inher- 
itance of  the  saints  in  light.  Think  of  the  solid  joy  and 
inward  consolation  of  those  souls  who  feel  in  themselves 
an  habitual  readiness  for  a  departure  hence,  and  who  are 
wrought  up  by  divine  grace  to  a  preparation  for  the 
business  and  the  joys  above.  Think  of  the  victory  over- 
death,  which  is  obtained  by  such  a  readiness  for  heaven, 
and  how  glorious  a  thing  is  it  to  meet  the  last  enemy  and 
the  king  of  terrors,  and  encounter  him  without  fear,  and 
to  triumph  over  him  with  divine  language,  O  deaths 
where  is  thy  sting  P  How  joyful  a  scene  would  it  be  to 
(:ake  leave  of  all  our  friends  in  this  land  of  mortality^ 


A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN.  g6l 

with  an  assured  hope  that  we  are  entering  into  a  happier 
climate,  and  a  better  country,  ready  prepared  for  all  the 
more  glorious  scenes  that  shall  meet  us  in  the  invisible 
world  ? 

It  is  an  amazing  thing  to  me,  how  the  children  of  men, 
who  are  dying  daily  oft*  from  this  stage  of  life,  who  must 
all  shortly  die,  and  enter  into  a  world  of  eternal  futurity, 
should  be  no  more  concerned  about  a  preparation  for 
their  departure  hence  ;  that  they  should  be  so  stupidly 
thoughtless  of  a  world  to  come,  while  they  are  on  the 
very  borders  of  it,  and  eternal  joy  or  eternal  sorro^^ 
depends  upon  this  one  question,  am  I  prepared  for  heaven 
or  not  ?  O  these  two  awful  regions  of  the  unseen  world, 
where  the  love  of  God  shines  with  its  briglites^  glories, 
or  where  the  vengeance  of  God  is  discovered  in  all  its 
anguish  and  horror  !  One  of  these  will  be  the  certain 
and  eternal  dwelling  place  of  the  souls  that  are  prepared 
for  them ;  and  there  they  must  pass  their  long  immor- 
tality, either  in  joy  or  in  sorrow,  without  a  change  ;  and 
yet  the  foolish  and  besotted  tribes  of  mankind  seem  to 
have  abandoned  all  thought  and  concern  about  them. 
A  dangerous  lethargy  or  distraction  ! 

What  shall  we  do  to  cure  sinners  of  this  madness  ? 
Shall  I  try  to  rouse  these  indolent  unthinking  wretches 
out  of  their  dangerous  and  mortal  slumbers  with  tlie 
loudest  voice  of  thunder  and  divine  terror  ?  But  the 
lethargy  of  sin  is  proof  against  all  these  terrors  and 
thunders.  Shall  I  call  for  a  fountain  of  tears  into  my 
eyes,  and  weep  over  them  with  the  tenderest  sympathy 
and  compassion  ?  But  they  feel  not  any  meltings  of  pity 
for  themselves,  nor  are  their  hearts  to  be  softened  by  all 
our  tears  and  wailings.  Sliall  I  beseech  them  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  by  the  bowels  of  his  dying  love,  and  the 
blood  and  anguish  of  his  sufferings  for  our  salvation  ? 
But  even  these  divine  and  astonishing  instances  of  ten- 
derness and  mercy,  make  no  iippression  on  their  souls. 


262  A  SOUL  PREPARED  FOR  HEAVEN. 

While  Satan  holds  them  in  his  chains,  they  are  sleeping 
the  sleep  of  death.  O  for  a  word  of  sovereign  and 
almighty  Grace  to  reach  the  centre  of  their  spirits !  to 
shake  all  the  powers  of  their  nature !  to  awaken  them  to 
behold  tlieir  eternal  interest !  and  to  prepare  for  heavenly 
felicity  !  Awake,  O  sleepers,  ere  the  angel  of  death 
seize  you,  and  the  grave  shuts  its  ftiouth  upon  you ;  then 
all  your  seasons  and  hopes  of  mercy  are  cut  off  for  ever, 
and  you  will  awake  hopeless  immortals. 

I  shall  conclude  this  discourse  with  one  laord  of  ex- 
hortation  to  those  who  are  in  any  measure  wrought  up  to 
a  preparation  for  the  heavenly  blessedness.  O  happy 
creature !  Whatsoever  pains  you  have  taken,  whatever 
conflicts  you  have  endured  in  the  matter  of  your  oAvn 
salvation,  yet  let  God  and  his  grace  have  all  the  honor 
of  this  work.  It  is  to  God  you  owe  your  sacrifices  of 
praise.  He  that  hath  wrought  you  up  for  this  felicity  is 
God.  It  was  he  who  aw  akened  you  first,  and  set  you  a 
thinking  of  your  most  important  concerns.  It  was  he 
that  led  you  first  into  tlie  way  of  salvation  by  Jesus 
Christ  his  Son,  and  hat!)  thus  far  crowned  your  labors 
and  prayers  with  success  and  blessing.  Every  stum- 
bling-block in  your  way  might  have  thrown  you  down 
to  perdition :  every  temptation  might  have  turned  you 
back  from  tliis  glorious  pursuit :  every  enemy  of  your 
souls  might  have  discouraged  or  overcome  you,  if  God 
and  his  grace  had  not  been  engaged  on  your  side. 

It  is  he  hath  upheld  you  when  you  were  falling ;  he 
hath  taken  you  by  the  hand  and  led  you  right  onward 
when  you  were  wandering,  and  he  hatli  supported  you 
by  his  divine  cordials  of  promise  wlien  you  weVe  fainting. 
It  is  God  who  hath  enabled  you  to  maintain  your  con- 
flict with  all  the  mighty  obstacles  of  your  faith  and  hope  : 
it  is  his  grace  hatii  renewed  your  nature,  hath  weaned 
you  from  this  vain  flattering  world,  and  given  you  a 
sacred  relish  of  divine  blessedness.     It  is  he  wJio  hath 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  2bS 

formed  you  again  after  his  own  image,  and  hath  trained 
you  up,  and  made  you  meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  liglit.  Call  up  all  your  powers  to  praise  his 
goodnessj  and  say,  ^^  Bless  the  Lord,  0  my  soul,  and  all 
that  is  within  me,  bless  his  holy  name.  Bless  the  Lord 
for  ever,  and  fi)rget  not  all  his  benefits.  It  is  God  who 
hath  called  me  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light, 
and  given  me  to  see  the  things  that  belong  to  my  ever- 
lasting peace.  It  is  God  who  washed  away  my  iniquities 
in  the  blood  of  his  own  Son,  and  hath  renewed  me  unto 
holiness  by  his  blessed  Spirit.  It  is  God  who  hath 
taken  me  out  of  the  family  of  sin  and  Satan,  and  given 
me  a  place  among  his  children  ;  who  hath  begun  to  pre- 
pare me  for  the  joys  and  blessings  of  heaven  ;  and  in  his 
own  time  he  will  fulfil  my  hopes,  and  complete  my 
felicity.''  Walk  before  him  with  holy  care  and  watch- 
fulness, and  take  heed  that  you  lose  not  the  things  ichich 
you  have  wrought,  nor  the  things  wliich  God  hath 
wrought  in  you,  but  that,  persevering  to  tlie  end,  you 
may  receive  the  full  reivard,  and  obtain  the  crown  of 
everlasting;  life.     Amen. 


DISCOURSE  IX. 

NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

REV.  xxi.  4. 
JVeither  shall  there  he  any  more  pain. 

THERE  have  been  some  divines  in  ancient  times, 
as  well  as  in  our  present  age,  who  suppose  this  prophecy 
reUtes  to  some  glorious  and  happy  event  here  on  earth. 


264) 


^O  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 


wherein  the  saints  and  faithful  followers  of  Christ  shall 
be  delivered  from  the  bondage  and  miseries  to  which 
they  have  been  exposed  in  all  former  ages,  and  shall 
fenjoy  the  blessings  which  these  words  promise.  Among 
these  writers  some  liave  placed  this  happy  state  before 
the  resurrection  of  the  body.  Others  make  it  to  belong 
to  ihfit  first  resurrection  which  is  spoken  of  in  Rev.  xx.  6. 
But  let  this  prophecy  have  a  pai'ticular  aspect  upon  what 
earthly  period  soever,  yet  all  must  grant  it  is  certainly 
true  concerning  the  heavenly  state  ;  from  whose  felicities, 
taken  in  the  literal  sense,  these  figurative  expressions 
are  derived  to  foretel  the  happiness  of  any  period  of  the 
church  in  tliis  world ;  and  in  this  sense,  as  part  of  our 
happiness  in  heaven,  I  shall  understand  the  words  here, 
and  propose  them  as  the  foundation  for  my  present  dis- 
course. 

Among  the  many  things  that  make  this  life  uncomfort- 
able, and  render  mankind  unhappy  here  below,  this  is 
one  that  has  a  large  influence,  viz.  that  in  this  mortal 
state  we  are  all  liable  to  pain,  from  which  we  shall  be 
perfectly  delivered  in  the  life  to  come.  The  Greek  word 
which  is  here  translated  pain,  signifies  also  toil  and  fa- 
tigue, and  excessive  labor  of  the  body,  as  well  as  anguish 
and  vexation  of  the  spirit.  But  since  in  the  two  other 
places  of  the  New  Testament  where  it  is  used,  the  word 
most  properly  signifies  the  pain  of  the  body,  I  presume 
to  understand  it  chiefly  in  this  sense  also  in  my  text. 

T  need  not  spend  time  in  explauiing  what  pain  is  to 
persons  who  dwell  in  flesh  and  blood.  There  is  not  one 
of  you  in  this  assembly  but  is  better  acquainted  with  the 
nature  of  it  by  the  sense  of  feeling,  than  it  is  possible 
for  the  wisest  philosopher  to  inform  you  by  all  his  learned 
language.  Yet  that  I  may  proceed  regularly,  I  would 
just  give  you  this  short  description  of  it.  Pain  is  an 
uneasy  perception  of  the  soul,  occasioned  by  some  indis- 
position of  the  body  to  which  it  is  united  ;  whether  this 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  365 

arise  from  some  disorder  or  malady  in  the  flesh  itself,  or 
from  some  injury  received  from  without  by  wounds^ 
hruises,  or  any  thing  of  the  like  kind.  Now  this  sort  of 
uneasy  sensations  is  not  to  be  found  or  feared  in  heaven. 
In  order  to  make  our  present  meditations  on  this  part 
of  the  blessedness  of  heaven  useful  and  joyful  to  us  while 
we  are  here  on  earth,  let  us  inquire, 

- 1.  What  are  the  evils  or  grand  inconveniences  that 
generally  flow  from  the  pains  we  suffer  here  ;  and  as  we 
go  we  shall  survey  the  satisfactions  which  arise  by  our 
freedom  from  them  all  in  heaven. 

II.  What  just  and  convincing  proofs  may  be  given  that 
there  are  no  such  uneasy  sensations  to  be  felt  in  heaven^, 
or  to  be  feared  after  this  life. 

III.  What  are  the  chief  reasons  or  designs  of  the 
blessed  God  in  sending  pain  on  his  creatures  in  this 
world  ;  and  at  the  same  time  I  shall  shew  that  pain  is 
banished  from  the  heavenly  state,  because  God  has  no 
such  designs  remaining  to  be  accomplished  in  that  world. 

IV.  What  lessons  we  may  learn  from  the  painful 
discipline  wiiich  we  feel  while  we  are  here,  in  order  to 
shevv'  there  is  no  need  of  such  discipline  to  teach  us  those 
lessons  in  heaven,  let  us  address  ourselves  to  make  these 
four  inquiries  in  their  order. 

SECTION  I. 

First.  What  are  the  evils  which  flow  from  fahiy  and, 
usually  attend  it  in  this  life  /  and  all  along  as  we  go  we 
shall  take  a  short  view  of  the  heavenly  state,  where  we 
shall  be  released  from  all  these  evils  and  inconveniences. 

1.  Pain  has  a  natural  tendency  to  make  the  mind  sor- 
rowful as  well  as  the  body  uneasy.  Our  souls  are  so 
nearly  united  to  flesh  and  blood,  that  it  is  not  possible 
for  the  mind  to  possess  perfect  happiness  and  ease,  while 
the  body  is  exposed  to  so  many  occasions  of  pain.  It 
34! 


:^66  >JO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

is  granted,  that  natural  courage  and  strength  of  heart 
may  prevail  in  some  persons  to  bear  up  their  spirits 
under  long  and  intense  pains  of  the  flesh,  yet  they  really 
take  away  so  much  of  the  ease  and  pleasure  of  life, 
while  any  of  us  lie  under  the  acute  sensations  of  them. 
Pain  will  make  us  confess  that  we  are  flesh  and  hlood, 
and  force  us  sometimes  to  cry  out  and  groan.  Even  a 
stoicJe  in  spite  of  all  the  pride  of  liis  philosophy,  will 
sometimes  be  forced,  by  a  sigh  or  groan  to  confess  him- 
self a  man.  What  are  the  greatest  part  of  the  groans 
and  outcries  that  are  heard  all  round  this  our  globe  of 
earth,  but  the  effects  of  pain,  either  felt  or  feared  ? 

But  in  heaven,  where  there  is  no  pain,  there  shall  be 
no  sighing  or  groaning,  nor  any  more  crying,  as  my 
text  expresses.  There  shall  be  nothing  to  make  the 
flesh  or  the  spirit  uneasy,  and  to  break  the  eternal  thread 
of  peace  and  pleasure  that  runs  through  tlie  whole  du- 
ration of  the  saints.  Not  one  painful  moment  to  inter- 
rupt the  everlasting  felicity  of  that  state.  When  we 
have  done  with  earth  and  mortality,  we  have  done  also 
with  sickness  and  anguish  of  nature,  and  M'ith  all  sor- 
row and  vexation  for  ever.  There  are  no  groans  in  the 
heavenly  world  to  break  in  upon  the  harmony  of  the 
harps  and  the  songs  of  the  blessed  ;  no  sighs,  no  out- 
cries, no  anguish  there  to  disturb  the  music  and  the  joy 
of  the  inhabitants.  And  though  the  soul  shall  be  united 
to  the  body  new  raised  from  the  dead,  to  dwell  for  ever 
in  union,  yet  that  new  raised  body  shall  have  neither 
any  springs  of  pain  in  it,  nor  be  capable  of  giving  an- 
guish or  uneasiness  to  the  indwelling  spirit  for  ever. 

2.  Another  evil  which  attends  on  pain  is  this,  that  if 
so  indisposes  our  nature  as  often  to  unfit  us  for  the  busi- 
ness and  duties  of  the  present  state.  With  how  mucii 
coldness  and  indifferency  do  we  go  about  our  daily  work, 
and  perform  it  too  with  many  interruptions,  when  nature 
i& burdened  with  continual  pain,  and  the  vital  springs  of 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  ^67 

action  are  overborne  with  perpetual  uneasiness  ?  What 
a  listnessness  do  we  find  to  many  of  the  duties  of  religion 
at  such  a  season,  unless  it  be  to  run  more  frequently  to 
the  throne  of  Grod,  and  pour  out  our  groanings  and  our 
complaints  there  ?  Groanings  and  cries  are  the  language 
of  jiature,  and  the  children  of  God  address  themselves 
in  this  language  to  their  heavenly  Father.  Blessed  be 
the  name  of  our  gracious  God,  who  hears  every  secret 
sigh,  who  is  acquainted  with  the  sense  of  every  groan^ 
while  we  mourn  before  him,  and  make  our  complaints  to 
liim,  that  we  cannot  worsliip  liim,  nor  work  for  him  as 
we  would  do,  because  of  the  anguish  and  maladies  of 
nature. 

And  what  an  indisposition  and  backwardness  do  we 
feel  in  ourselves  to  fulftl  many  of  the  duties  towards 
our  fellow  creatures  v  ile  we  ourselves  are  under  pre- 
sent smart  and  anguisn?  Pain  will  so  sensibly  affect 
.sp(f  as  to  draw  off  all  our  thoughts  thither,  and  centre 
them  there,  that  we  cannot  so  much  employ  our  cares 
and  our  active  powers  for  the  benefit  of  our  neighbors  ; 
it  abates  our  concern  for  our  friends,  and  while  it  awa- 
kens the  spirit  within  us  into  keen  sensations,  it  takes 
away  the  activity  of  the  man  that  feels  it  from  almost  all 
the  services  of  human  life.  When  human  nature  bears 
so  much  it  can  act  but  little. 

But  what  a  blessed  state  will  tliat  be  when  we  shall 
never  feel  this  indisposition  to  duties,  either  human  or 
divine,  through  any  uneasinsss  of  the  body  ?  When  we 
shall  never  more  be  subject  to  any  of  these  painful  im- 
pediments, but  for  ever  cast  off  all  those  clogs  and  bur- 
dens which  fetter  the  active  powers  of  the  soul  ?  Then 
we  shall  be  joyfully  employed  in  such  unknown  and 
glorious  services  to  God  our  Father,  and  to  the  blessed 
Jesus,  as  require  much  superior  capacities  to  what  we 
here  possess,  and  shall  find  no  weakness,  no  weariness, 
no  pain  throughout   all   the  years  of  our  immortality  ^ 


268 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSTiD. 


Rev.  vii.  15.  None  of  the  blessed  above  are  at  rest  or 
idle,  either  day  or  night,  but  they  serve  him  in  liis  temple, 
and  never  cease,  and  iv.  8.  No  faintness,  no  langors 
are  known  there.  The  inhabitants  of  that  land  shall 
not  say,  lam  sick.  Everlasting  vigor,  cheerfulness  and 
ease  shall  render  every  blessed  soul  for  ever  zealous  and 
active  in  obedience,  as  the  angels  are  in  heaven. 

3.  Pain  unfits  us  for  the  enjoT/ments  of  life,  as  ivell 
as  for  the  labors  and  duties  of  it.  It  takes  away  all  the 
pleasing  satisfactions  which  might  attend  our  circum- 
stances, and  renders  the  objects  of  tliera  insipid  and 
unrelishing.  What  pleasure  can  a  rich  man  take  in 
all  the  aiftuence  of  eai'thly  blessiiigs  around  him,  while 
some  painful  distemper  holds  him  upon  the  rack,  and 
distresses  him  with  tlie  torture?  How  little  delight  can 
he  find  in  meats  or  in  drinks  which  are  prepared  for 
luxury  when  sharp  pain  calls  all  his  attention  to  the 
diseased  part?  What  joy  can  he  find  in  magnificent 
buildings,  in  gay  and  shining  furniture,  in  elegant 
gardens,  or  in  all  the  glittering  treasures  of  the  Indies, 
when  tlse  gcuit  torments  his  hands  and  his  feet,  or  the 
rheumatism  atHicts  his  limbs  with  intense  anguish?  If 
pain  attacks  any  part  of  the  body  and  rises  to  a  high 
degree,  the  luxuries  of  life  grow  tasteless,  and  life  itself 
is  imbittered  to  us.  Or  when  pains  less  acute  are  pro- 
longed through  weeks  and  months,  and  perhaps  stick  in 
our  flesh  all  the  night  as  well  as  in  the  day  ;  how  vain 
and  feeble  are  all  the  efforts  of  the  bright  and  gay  things 
around  us  to  raise  the  soul  ioto  cheerfulness  ?  There- 
fore Solomon  calls  old  age  the  years  wherein  there  is  no 
pleasure  ;  Eccles.  xii.  1.  Because  so  many  aches  and 
ails  in  that  season  pursue  us  in  a  continual  succession  ; 
so  many  infirnrities  and  painful  hours  attend  us  usually 
in  that  stage  of  life,  even  in  the  be  stsituation  that  mor- 
tality can  boast  of,  as  cuts  off  and  destroys  all  our  pleas- 
ures. 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  2&Q 

But  O  what  a  wondroiis,  what  a  joyful  change  shall 
that  be,  when  the  soul  is  commanded  to  forsake  this 
flesh  and  blood,  when  it  rises  as  on  the  winejs  of  angels 
to  the  heavenly  world,  and  leaves  every  pain  behind  it, 
together  with  the  body  in  the  arms  of  death  ?  And  what 
a  more  illustrious  and  delightful  change  shall  we  meet 
in  the  great  rising  day,  when  our  bodies  shall  start  up 
out  of  the  dust  with  vigorous  immortality,  and  without 
any  spring  or  seat  of  pain  ?  All  the  unknow  n  enjoy- 
ments with  whicli  heaven  is  furnished,  shall  be  taken 
in  by  the  enlarged  powers  of  tlie  soul  with  intense 
pleasure,  and  not  a  moment's  pain  shall  ever  interrupt 
them. 

4.  Another  inconvenience  and  evil  which  belongs  to 
pain  is,  that  it  snakes  time  and  life  itself  appear  tedious 
and  tiresome,,  and  adds  a  neiv  burden  to  all  other  griev- 
ances. Many  evidencies  of  tliis  truth  are  scattered 
throughout  all  nature,  and  on  all  sides  of  this  globe. 
There  is  not  one  age  of  mankind  but  can  furnish  us  with 
millions  of  instances.  In  what  melancholy  language 
does  Job  dii^cover  his  sensations  of  the  tiresome  nature 
of  pain  ?  "  I  am  made  to  possess  months  of  vanity,  and 
wearisome  nights  are  appointed  to  me.  When  I  lie 
down  I  say,  when  shall  I  rise  and  the  night  be  gone  ? 
And  I  am  full  of  tossing  to  and  fro  unto  the  dawning 
of  the  day  ;"  Job  vii.  3.  When  pain  takes  hold  of  our 
flesh,  it  seems  to  stretch  the  measures  of  time  to  a  te- 
dious length  ;  we  cry  out  as  Moses  expresses  it ;  Deut. 
xxviii.  67.  In  the  morning  we  say^  would  to  God  it  were 
evehing  ;  and  at  the  return  of  evening  ice  say  again, 
would  to  God  it  were  morning. 

Long  are  those  hours  indeed,  whether  of  day-light  or 
darkness,  wherein  there  is  no  relief  or  intermission  of 
acute  pain.  How  tiresome  a  thing  is  it  to  count  the 
clock  at  midnight  in  long  successions,  and  to  wait  every 
hour  for  the  distant   approach  of  morning,    while   our 


370  NO.  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED, 

eyes  are  unable  to  close  themselves  in  slumber,  and  our 
anguish  admits  not  the  common  refuge  of  sleep.  There 
are  multitudes  among  tlie  race  of  mortals  who  have 
known  these  truths  by  sore  experience.  Blessed  be 
God  that  we  do  not  always  feel  them. 

But  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  tlie  heavenly  world 
where  there  is  no  pain,  there  we  shall  find  no  weary 
hours,  no  tedious  days,  though  eternity  with  all  its  un- 
ineasurable  lengtlis  of  duration  lies  before  us.  What  a 
dismal  thought  is  eternal  pain?  The  very  mention  of  it 
makes  nature  shudder  and  stand  aghast ;  but  futurity 
with  all  its  endless  years,  in  a  land  of  peace  and  pleas- 
ure gives  the  soul  the  most  deliglitful  prospect,  for  there 
is  no  shadow  of  uneasiness  in  that  state  to  render  our 
abode  there  tiresome,  or  lo  tliink  the  ages  of  it  long. 

5.  Another  evil  tiiat  belongs  to  pain  is,  that  it  ha^ 
an  unhappy  tendency  tu  riijjie  the  passions^  and  to  ren- 
der us  fretful  and  peevish  icithin  ourselves,  as  well  as 
towards  those  who  are  round  about  us.  Even  the  kind- 
est and  tenderest  hand  that  ministers  to  our  relief,  can 
hardly  secure  itself  from  the  peevish  quarrels  of  a  man 
in  extreme  pain. 

Not  that  we  are  to  suppose  that  this  peevisli  humor, 
this  fretfulness  of  spirit  are  thereby  made  innocent  and 
perfectly  excused  :  no,  by  no  means  ;  but  it  must  be 
acknowledged  still  that  continuance  in  pain  is  too  ready 
to  work  up  the  spirit  into  frequent  disquietude  and  ea- 
gerness. We  are  tempted  to  fret  at  every  thing,  we 
quarrel  with  every  thing,  we  grow  impatient  under  every 
delay,  angry  with  our  best  friends,  sharp  and  sudden 
in  our  resentments,  with  wrathful  speeches  breaking 
out  of  our  I'tps. 

This  peevish  humor  in  a  day  of  pain  is  so  common  a 
fault,  that  I  fear  it  is  too  much  excused  and  indulged. 
Let  me  rather  say  with  myself,  '^  My  God  is  now  putting 
me  to  the  trial  what   sort  of  christian   I  am.  and  how 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  §71 

much  I  have  learnt  of  self-government,  and  througli  his 
grace  I  will  subdue  my  uneasy  passions,  though  I  can- 
not relieve  my  pain."  O  it  is  a  noble  point  of  honor 
gained  in  a  sick  chamber,  or  on  a  bed  of  anguish,  to  lie 
pressed  with  extreme  pain,  and  yet  maintain  a  serenity 
and  calmness  of  soul ;  to  be  all  meekness  and  gentleness 
and  patience,  among  our  friends  or  attendants,  under 
the  sharp  twinges  of  it ;  to  utter  no  rude  or  angry  lan- 
guage, and  to  take  every  thing  kindly  that  they  say  or 
do,  and  become  like  a  weaned  child.  But  sucli  a  char- 
acter is  not  fouud  in  every  liouse. 

A  holy  soul,  through  the  severity  of  pain,  may  some- 
times in  such  an  hour  be  too  much  ruffled  by  violent  and 
sudden  fits  of  impatience.  This  proceeded  to  such  a 
degree  even  in  that  good  man.  Job,  under  his  various 
calamities  and  the  sore  boils  upon  his  ilesh,  that  made 
him  cui'se  the  day  ivherein  he  teas  born,  and  cry  out  in 
the  anguish  of  his  spirit,  my  soul  chooseth  strangling 
and  death  rather  than  life  ;  Job.  iii.  and  vii.  15  ;  and 
there  have  been  several  instances  of  those,  who,  having 
not  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes,  with  hasty  violence 
and  murderous  hand  have  put  an  end  to  their  own  lives, 
through  their  wild  and  sinful  impatience  of  constant 
pain. 

But  tliese  trials  are  for  ever  finished  when  this  life 
expires.  Then  all  our  pains  are  ended  for  ever,  if  we 
are  found  among  the  children  of  God.  There  is  not, 
nor  can  be  any  temptation  in  heav<^n,  to  fretfulness  or 
disquietude  of  mind.  iVll  the  peevish  passions  are 
dropped  into  the  gi'ave,  together  with  the  body  of  fiesh  ; 
and  those  evil  humors  which  were  the  sources  of  smart 
and  anguish  here  on  earth,  have  no  ])lace  in  the  new 
raised  body.  Those  irregular  juices  of  animal  nature 
which  tormented  the  nerves,  and  excited  pain  in  the  flesh, 
and  which  at  the  same  time  provoked  choler,  and  irri- 
tated the  spirit,  are  never  fouivd  in  the  Iieavenly  man- 


S7S 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 


sioiis.  There  is  nothing  but  peace  and  pleasure,  joy  and 
love,  goodness  and  benevolence,  ease  and  satisfaction, 
diifiised  through  all  the  regions  on  high.  There  are  no 
inward  springs  of  uneasiness  to  ruffle  the  mind,  none  of 
those  fretful  ferments  which  were  wont  to  kindle  in  the 
mortal  body,  and  explode  themselves  with  fire  and 
thunder,  upon  every  supposed  offence,  or  even  sometimes 
without  provocation.  O  happy  state  and  blessed  man- 
sions of  the  saints,  when  this  body  of  sin  shall  be-  de- 
troyed,  and  all  the  restless  atoms  that  disquieted  the 
flesh  and  provoked  the  spirit  to  impatience,  shall  be 
buried  in  the  dust  of  death,  and  never,  never  rise  again  ! 
6.  Pain  carries  a  temjjtation  with  it,  sometimes  to 
repine  and  murmur  at  the  providence  of  God.  Not  feU 
low-creatures  alone,  but  even  our  sovereign  Creator 
comes  within  the  reach  of  the  peevish  humors,  which  are 
alarmed  and  roused  by  sharp  or  continual  paia.  Jonah 
the  prophet,  when  he  felt  the  sultry  heat  of  the  sun  smite 
fiercely  upon  him,  and  the  gourd  which  gave  him  a 
friendly  shadow  was  withered  away,  he  told  God  him- 
self in  a  passion,  that  he  did  well  to  be  angry,  even  unto 
death,  Jonah  iv.  9.  And  even  the  man  of  Uz,  the  pat- 
tern of  patience,  was  sometimes  transported  v.ith  the 
smart  and  maladies  that  were  upon  him,  so  that  he 
complained  against  God,  as  well  as  complained  to 
him,  and  used  some  very  unbecoming  expressions  toward 
his  Maker.  When  we  are  under  the  smarting  rebukes 
of  providence,  we  are  ready  to  compare  ourselves  with 


others   who  are   in 


peace, 


and   then    the  envious  and 


the  murmuring  humour  breaks  out  into  rebellious  lan- 
guage, *•  Why  am  I  thus  afflicted  more  than  others  ? 
Why  hast  thou  set  me  as  a  mark  for  thine  arrows  ? 
Why  dost  thou  not  let  loose  thy  hand  and  cut  me  off 
from  the  earth  ? 

But  in  heaven  there  is  a  glorious  reverse  of  all  such 
unhappy  scenes  :  there  is  no  pain  nor  any  temptation  to 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  ^3 

murmur  at  the  dealiugs  of  tlie  Almighty ;  there  is  no- 
thing that  can  incline  us  to  think  hardly  of  God ;  the 
days  of  chastisement  are  for  ever  end^d,  and  painful 
discipline  shall  be  used  no  more.  We  shall  live  for 
ever  in  the  embraces  of  the  love  of  God,  and  he  shall  be 
the  object  of  our  everlasting  praise.  Perfect  felicity 
without  the  interruption  of  one  uneasy  thought,  for  ever 
forbids  the  inhabitants  of  that  world  to  repine  at  their 
situation  under  the  eternal  smiles  of  that  blessed  Being 
that  made  them. 

7.  To  add  no  more ;  j;a?}«  (uid  av.gidsli  of  the  flesh 
have  sometimes  prevailed  so  far  as  to  distract  the  mind 
as  well  as  destroy  the  body.  It  has  overpowered  all  the 
reasoning  faculties  of  man,  it  has  destroyed  natural  life, 
and  brought  it  down  to  the  grave.  The  senses  have 
been  confounded,  and  the  understanding  overwhelmed 
with  severe  and  racking  pain,  especially  where  there 
hath  been  an  impatient  temper  to  contest  with  them. 
Extreme  smart  of  the  flesh  distresses  feeble  nature,  and 
turns  the  whole  frame  of  it  upside  down  in  wild  confu- 
sion. It  has  actually  worn  out  this  animal  fi-ame,  and 
stopped  all  the  springs  of  vital  motion.  The  gout  and 
the  stone  have  brought  death  upon  tlie  patient  in  tl  is 
manner !  and  a  dreadful  manner  of  dying  it  is,  to  have 
breath,  and  life,  and  nature  quite  oppressed  and  destroyed 
with  intense  and  painful  sensations. 

Eut  when  we  survey  the  mansions  of  the  heavenly 
world,  we  shall  find  none  of  these  evils  there.  No  dan- 
ger of  any  such  events  as  these  ;  for  there  is  no  pain, 
no  sorrow,  no  crying,  no  death  nor  desti'uction  there. 
The  mind  shall  be  for  ever  clear  and  serene  in  the  ease 
and  happiness  of  the  separate  state  :  and  when  the  body 
shall  be  raised  again,  that  glorified  body,  as  was  inti- 
mated a  little  before,  sliall  have  none  of  the  seeds  of 
distemper  in  it,  no  ferments  that  can  racli  the  nerves,  or 
create  anguish ;  no  fever,  or  gout,  or  stone,  was  ever 
30 


274 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 


known  in  that  country ;  no  head- ache  or  heart- ache  have 
ascended  thither. 

That  hody  also  shall  ])e  capable  of  no  outward  Mounds 
nor  bruises,  for  it  is  raised  only  for  happiness,  and  leaves 
all  the  causes  of  pain  behind  it.  It  is  a  body  made  for 
immortality  and  pleasure  ;  there  the  sickly  christian  is 
delivered  from  all  the  maladies  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
twinges  of  acute  pain  which  made  him  groan  here  on 
earth  night  and  day.  Tliere  the  martyrs  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus,  and  all  the  holy  confessors  are  free  from  their 
cruel  tormentors,  those  surly  executioners  of  heatlien 
fury,  or  antichristian  Avrath ;  they  are  for  ever  released 
from  racks,  and  wheels,  and  fires,  and  every  engine  of 
torture  and  smart.  Immortal  ease  and  unfading  health 
and  cheerfulness  mn  tlirough  their  eternal  state,  and  all 
the  powers  of  the  man  are  composed  for  the  most  regular 
exercises  of  devotion  and  divine  joy. 

Thus  I  have  endeptvoured  ])rietiy  to  set  the  different 
states  of  heaven  and  earth  before  you  under  this  distin- 
guishing character,  that  a^^  the  tempting,  the  distresshi'j; 
mid  mischievous  attendants  and  consequences  of  jjain  to 
which  we  are  exposed  in  our  mortal  life,  are  for  ever 
banished  from  the  heavenly  world. 


SECTION  II. 

The  second  general  enquiry  was  this  ;  What  just  and 
convincing  arguments  or  jwoofs  can  he  given,  that  there 
are  no  pains  or  uneasy  sensations  to  be  felt  by  the  saints 
in  a  future  state,  nor  to  be  feared  after  this  life  P 

My  answers  to  this  question  shall  be  very  few ;  be- 
cause I  think  the  thing  must  be  sufficiently  evident  to 
those  who  believe  the  New  Testament,  and  liave  lil)erty 
to  read  it. 

First  Argument.  God  has  assured  us  so  in  his  ivord. 
that  tkere  is  no  pain  for  holy  souls  to  endure  in  the  icorld 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  275 

to  come.  My  text  may  be  esteemed  a  sufficient  proof  of 
it ;  for  whatsoever  particular  event  or  period  of  the  church 
on  earth  this  prophecy  may  refer  to,  yet  the  description 
is  borrowed  from  the  blessedness  of  heaven  ;  and  if  therq 
shall  be  any  such  state  on  earth,  much  more  will  it  be 
so  in  the  heavenly  world,  wliereas  that  period  on  earth 
is  but  a  shadow  and  emblem.  We  are  expressly  told, 
Rev.  xiv.  8.  in  order  to  encourage  the  persecuted  saints 
and  martyrs,  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth,  for  they  rest  from  their  labors  [^or  pains'] 
and  their  works  follow  them  ;  that  is,  in  the  way  of 
gracious  recompence. 

It  is  granted  indeed  by  the  papists  themselves,  that  in 
heaven  there  is  no  pain ;  yet  they  suppose  there  are 
many  and  grievous  pains  for  the  soul  to  undergo  in  a 
place  called  purgatory,  after  the  death  of  tlie  body,  be- 
fore it  arrives  at  heaven. 

But  give  me  leave  to  ask,  does  not  St.  Paul  express 
himself  with  confidence  concerning  himself  and  his  fellow 
christians — that  they  shall  be  present  with  the  Lord  when 
they  are  absent  from  the  body;  3  Cor.  v.  8?  Surely  the 
state  wherein  Christ  our  Lord  dwells  after  all  his  safi'er- 
ings  and  agonies,  is  a  state  of  everlasting  ease  without 
suffering  ;  and  shall  not  his  followers  dwell  with  him  ? 
Do  we  not  read  in  the  parable  of  our  Saviour,  Luke 
xvi.  22,  that  Lazarus  was  no  sooner  dead,  but  his  soul 
was  carried  by  angels  into  the  bosom  of  Abraham,  or 
paradise  ?  Every  holy  soul  wherein  the  work  of  grace  is 
begun,  and  sin  hath  received  its  mortal  wound,  is  per- 
fectly sanctified  when  it  is  released  from  this  body  ;  and 
it  puts  off  the  body  of  sin  and  the  body  of  flesh  together, 
for  nothing  that  defileth  must  enter  into  paradise  or  the 
heavenly  state. 

The  word  of  God  has  appointed  but  two  states,  viz. 
heaven  and  hell,  for  the  reception  of  all  mankind  Avhen 
they  depart  from  tliis  world.   And  how  vain  a  thing  must 


27^  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

it  be  for  men  to  invent  a  third  state,  and  make  a  purga- 
tory of  it  ?  This  is  a  building  erected  by  the  church  of 
Rome  between  heaven  and  hell,  and  prepared  by  their 
wild  imagination  for  souls  of  imperfect  virtue,  to  be  tor- 
mented there  with  pains  equal  to  those  of  hell,  but  of 
shorter  duration.  This  state  of  fiery  purgation,  and  ex- 
treme anguish,  is  devised  by  that  mother  of  lies,  partly 
under  a  pretence  of  completing  the  penances  and  satis- 
factions for  the  sins  of  men  committed  in  this  life,  and 
partly  also  to  purify  and  refine  their  souls  from  all  the 
remaining  dregs  of  sin,  and  to  fill  up  their  virtues  to 
perfection,  that  they  may  be  fit  for  the  immediate  pre- 
sence of  God.  But  does  not  the  scripture  suflBciently 
inform  us,  that  the  atonement  or  satisfaction  of  Christ  for 
sin  is  full  and  complete  in  itsetf,  and  needs  none  of  our 
additions  in  this  world  or  another  ?  Does  not  the  apostle 
Jolin  tell  us,  1  Epis.  i.  7 ;  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin  f  Nor  shall  the  saints  after  this 
life  sin  any  more,  to  require  any  new  atonement ;  nor  do 
they  carry  the  seeds  of  sin  to  heaven  with  them,  but  (h"op 
them  together  with  the  flesh,  and  all  the  sources  of  pain 
together.  Now  since  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  give 
us  any  intimation  of  such  a  place  as  purgatory  for  the 
refinement  or  purification  of  souls  after  this  life,  we  have 
no  ground  to  hearken  to  such  a  fable. 

The  second  Argument  is  this.  God  has  not  provided 
any  medium  to  convey  pain  to  holy  souls  after  they  have 
dropped  this  body  of  flesh.  They  are  pardoned,  they  are 
sanctified,  they  are  accepted  of  God  for  ever ;  and  since 
they  are  in  no  danger  of  sinning  afresh  by  the  influences 
of  corrupt  flesh  and  blood,  therefore  they  are  in  no  fear 
of  suflTering  any  thing  thereby.  And  if,  as  some  divines 
Lave  supposed,  there  should  be  any  pure  sethereal  bodies 
or  vehicles  provided  for  holy  separate  spirits,  when  de- 
parted from  this  grosser  tabernacle  of  flesh  and  blood, 
yet  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the   God  of  all  grace 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  277 

would  mix  up  any  seeds  of  pain  with  that  sethereal  mat- 
ter, which  is  to  be  the  occasional  habitation  of  sanctified 
spirits  in  that  state,  nor  that  he  would  make  any  avenues 
or  doors  of  entrance  for  pain  into  these  refined  vehicles, 
when  the  state  of  their  sinning  and  their  trial  is  for  ever 
finished. 

Nor  will  the  body  at  the  final  resurrection  of  the  saints 
be  made  for  a  mediun  of  any  painful  sensations.  All 
the  pains  of  nature  are  ended,  when  tlie  first  union  be- 
tween flesh  and  spirit  is  dissolved.  When  this  body 
lies  down  to  sleep  in  the  dust,  it  shall  never  awake  again 
with  any  of  the  principles  of  sin  or  pain  in  it.  Though 
it  be  sown  in  weakness^  it  is  raised  in  power  ;  though  it 
be  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory  ;  and  we  shall 
be  made  like  the  Son  of  God,  without  sorrow  and  with- 
out sin  for  ever. 

3d  Argument.  There  are  no  moral  causes  or  reasons 
why  there  should  be  any  thing  of  pain  provided  for  the 
heavenly  state.  And  if  there  be  no  moral  reasons  for  it, 
surely  God  will  not  provide  pains  for  his  creatures  with- 
out reason.  But  this  thought  leads  me  to  the  next  gen- 
eral head  of  my  discourse. 

SECTION  III. 

The  third  general  inquiry  which  I  proposed  to  make, 
was  this,  ichat  may  be  the  chief  moral  reasons,  motives,  or 
designs  of  the  blessed  God,  in  sending  pain  on  his  crea- 
tures here  below  ;  and  at  the  same  time  I  shall  shew  that 
these  designs  and  purposes  of  God  are  finished,  and  they 
have  no  place  in  heaven. 

I.  Then  pain  is  sometimes  sent  into  our  natures  to 
awaken  slothful  and  drowsy  christians  out  of  their  spir- 
itual slumbers,  or  to  rouse  stupid  sinners  from  a  state  of 
spiritual  death.     Intense  and  sharp  pain  of  the  flesh  has 


278  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

oftentimes  been  tlie  appointed  and  effectual  means  of 
providence  to  attain  tliese  desirable  ends. 

Pain  is  like  a  rod  in  the  hand  of  God,  wherewith  lie 
smites  sinners  that  are  dead  in  their  trespasses,  and  his 
Spirit  joins  with  it  to  awaken  tliem  into  spiritual  life. 
This  rod  is  sometimes  so  smarting  and  severe,  that  it 
will  make  a  senseless  and  ungodly  wretch  lookupwards 
to  the  hand  that  smites  it,  and  take  notice  of  the  rebuke 
of  heaven,  though  all  the  thundering  and  lightning  of  the 
word;  and  all  the  terrors  of  hell  denounced  there,  could 
not  awaken  tliem. 

Acute  pain  is  also  a  common  instrument  in  our  heavenly 
Fatlier's  hand,  to  recover  backsliding  saints  from  their 
secure  and  drowsy  frames  of  spirit.  David  often  found 
it  so,  and  speaks  it  plainly  in  the  38th  and  39th  Psalms. 
And  in  Psalm  cxix.  67,  he  confesses,  before  I  was  af- 
flicted, I  went  astray  ;  but  when  he  had  felt  the  scourge. 
he  learnt  to  obey,  and  to  keeq}  the  tcord  of  his  God, 

But  tliere  is  7W  need  of  this  discipline  in  heaven  ;  no 
need  of  this  smarting  scourge  to  make  dead  sinners  feel 
their  Makers  hand,  in  order  to  rouse  them  into  life,  for 
there  are  no  suc!i  inhabitants  in  tliat  world.  Nor  is 
tliere  any  need  of  such  divine  and  paternal  discipline  of 
God  in  those  holy  mansions,  where  tliere  is  no  drowsy 
christian  to  be  awakened,  no  wandering  spirit  that  wants 
to  be  reduced  to  duty.  Antl  where  the  designs  of  such 
smarting  strokes  have  no  place,  pain  itself  must  be  for 
ever  banished  ;  for  God  does  not  ivillingly  ajflict,  nor 
take  delight  in  grieving  the  children  of  meii^  without 
substantial  reasons  for  it. 

2.  Another  use  of  bodily  pain  and  anguish  in  this 
world  is,  to  punish  men  for  their  faults  and  follies^  to 
make  them  Tcnow  what  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  it  is  to  sin 
against  God,  and  thereby  to  guard  them  against  new 
temptations ;  Jer.  ii.  19.  Thy  oicn  ivickedness  shall 
correct  thee,  and  thy  backsliding  shall  reprove  thee  ;  that 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  379 

isj  by  means  of  the  smarting  chastisements  they  bring 
upon  men.  Wlien  God  makes  the  sinner  taste  of  the 
fruit  of  his  own  ways,  he  makes  others  also  observe  how 
hateful  a  thing  every  sin  is  in  the  sight  of  God,  which  he 
thinks  fit  so  terribly  to  punish. 

This  is  one  general  reason  why  special  diseases,  mal- 
adies, and  plagues  are  spread  over  a  whole  nation,  viz. 
to  punish  the  sins  of  the  inhabitants,  when  they  hav6 
provoked  God  by  public  and  spreading  iniquities.  War 
and  famine,  with  all  their  terrible  train  of  anguish  and 
agony,  and  the  dying  pains  which  they  diffuse  over  a 
kingdom,  are  rods  of  punishment  in  the  hand  of  God, 
the  Governor  of  the  world,  to  declare  from  heaven  and 
earth,  his  indignation  against  an  ungodly  and  an  unright- 
eous age. 

This  indeed  is  one  design  of  the  pains  and  torments 
of  hell,  where  God  inflicts  pain  without  intermission. 
And  this  is  sometimes  the  purpose  of  God  in  his  painful 
providences  here  on  earth.  Sliall  I  rise  yet  higher  and 
say,  that  this  was  one  great  design  in  the  eye  of  God, 
wheji  it  jjleased  the  Father  to  bruise  his  best  beloved 
Son,  and  put  him  under  the  impressions  of  extreme  pain, 
viz.  to  discover  to  the  world  the  abominable  evil  that 
was  in  sin  ?  While  Jesus  stood  in  the  stead  of  sinners, 
then  his  soul  was  exceeding  sorroicful,  even  unto  deaths 
and  he  siceat  drops  of  blood  under  the  pressure  of  his  ag- 
onies, to  let  the  world  see  what  the  sin  of  man  had  de- 
served. And  sometimes  God  smites  his  own  children 
in  this  world  with  smarting  strokes  of  correction,  when 
they  have  indulged  any  iniquity,  to  shew  the  world  that 
God  hates  sin  in  his  own  people,  wheresoever  he  finds 
it,  and  to  bring  his  children  back  again  to  the  paths  of 
righteousness. 

But  in  theheavenly  state,  there  are  no  faults  to  punish^ 
110  follies  to  chastise.  Jesus,  our  Surety,  in  the  days  of 
his  flesh,  has  suffered  those  sorrows  which  made  atone- 


280 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 


ment  for  sin,  and  that  anguish  of  his  holy  soul,  and  the 
blood  of  his  cross,  have  satisfied  the  demands  of  God  ; 
so  that  with  honor  he  can  pardon  ten  thousand  penitent 
criminals,  and  provide  an  inheritance  of  ease  and  bless- 
edness for  tliem  for  ever.  When  once  we  are  dismissed 
from  this  body,  the  spirit  is  thoroughly  sanctified,  and 
there  is  no  fire  of  purgatory  needful  to  burn  out  the  re- 
mains of  sin.  Those  foolish  invented  flames  are  but 
false  fire,  kindled  by  the  priests  of  Rome  to  friglit  the 
souls  of  the  dying,  and  to  squeeze  money  out  of  them  to 
purchase  so  many  vain  and  idle  masses  to  relieve  the 
souls  of  the  dead.  Upon  our  actual  release  from  this 
flesh  and  blood,  neither  the  guilt  nor  the  power  of  sin, 
shall  attend  the  saints  in  their  flight  to  heaven.  All  the 
spirits  that  arrive  there,  are  made  perfect  in  holiness 
without  new  scourges,  and  commence  a  state  of  felicity 
that  shall  never  be  interrupted. 

3.  God  has  appointed  pain  in  this  world,  to  exercise 
and  try  the  virtues  and  the  graces  of  his  people.  As 
gold  is  thrown  into  the  fire  to  prove  and  try  how  pure  it 
is  from  any  coarse  alloy,  so  the  children  of  God  are 
sometimes  left  for  a  season  in  the  furnace  of  sufferings, 
partly  to  refine  them  from  their  dross,  and  partly  to  dis- 
cover their  purity,  and  tlieir  substantial  Aveight  and 
worth. 

Sometimes  God  lays  smarting  pain  with  his  own  hand 
on  the  flesh  of  his  people,  on  purpose  to  try  their  graces. 
When  we  endure  the  pain  without  murmuring  at  prov- 
idence, then  it  is  we  come  off  conquerors.  Christian 
submission  and  silence  under  the  hand  of  God,  is  one 
way  to  victory.  I  was  dumb,  says  David,  and  opened 
mot  my  mouth,  because  thou  didst  it ;  Psalm  xxxix. 
Our  love  to  God,  our  resignation  to  his  will,  our  holy 
fortitude,  and  our  patience,  find  a  proper  tiial  in  such 
smarting  seasons.  Perhaps  when  some  severe  pain  first 
seizes  and  surprises  us,  we  find  ourselves  like  a  wild  hull 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  281 

in  a  net,  and  all  the  powers  of  nature  are  thrown  into 
tumult  and  disquietude,  so  that  we  have  no  possession 
of  our  own  spirits  ;  but  when  the  hand  of  Grod  has  con- 
tinued us  a  while  under  this  divine  discipline,  we  learn 
to  bow  down  to  his  sovereignty,  we  lie  at  his  footstool 
calm  and  composed.  He  brings  our  haughty  and  reluc- 
tant spirits  down  to  his  foot,  and  makes  us  lie  humble  in 
the  dust,  and  we  wait  with  patience  the  hour  of  his  re- 
lease. Kom.  V.  3,  4 ;  Tribulation  ivorketh  jjatience, 
mid  patience  under  tribulation  gives  us  experience  of 
the  dealings  of  God  with  his  people,  and  makes  our  way 
to  a  confirmed  hope  in  his  love.  The  evidence  of  our 
various  graces  grows  brighter  and  stronger  under  a 
smarting  rod,  till  we  are  settled  in  a  joyful  confidence;^ 
and  the  soul  rests  in  God  himself. 

Sometimes  he  has  permitted  evil  angels  to  put  the  flesh 
to  pain,  for  the  trial  of  his  children.  So  Job  urns  smitten 
tilth  sore  boils  from  head  to  foot  by  the  malice  of  Satan , 
at  the  permission  of  God  ;  but  he  knoics  the  way  that  I 
take,  says  this  holy  man,  and  when  he  has  tried  me  I 
shall  come  forth  as  gold;  for  my  foot  hath  held  his  steps 
through  all  tiiese  trials,  neither  have  1  gone  hack  from 
the  commandments  of  his  lips  ;  Job  xxii.  10,  12. 

At  other  times  he  suffers  wicked  men  to  spend  their 
own  malice,  and  to  inflict  dreadful  pains  on  his  own 
children.  Look  back  to  the  years  of  ancient  perse- 
cution in  the  land  of  Israel,  under  Jewish  or  heathen 
tyrants  ;  review  the  anuals  of  Great  Britian  ;  look  over 
the  seas  into  popish  kingdoms  ;  take  a  view  of  the  cursed 
courts  of  inquisition  in  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy  ;  be- 
hold the  weapons,  the  scourges,  the  racks,  the  machines 
of  torture  and  engines  of  cruelty,  devised  by  the  barba- 
rous and  inhuman  wit  of  men,  to  constrain'  the  saints  to 
renounce  their  taith,  and  dishonor  their  Saviour.  See 
the  slow  fires  where  the  martyrs  have  been  roasted  to 
death  with  lingering   torment.     These  are  seasons  of 

m 


S8a  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSEIC, 

terribU'  trial  indeed,  wliereby  the  malice  of  satan  and 
antichvist  would  force  the  servants  of  God  and  the  follow- 
ers of  the  Lamb,  into  sinful  compliances  with  their 
idolatry,  or  a  desertion  of  their  post  of  duty.  But  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  supported  his  children  to  bear  a  glori- 
ous testimony  to  pure  and  undefiled  religion  ;  and  they 
have  seemed  to  mock  the  rage  of  their  tormentors,  to 
defy  all  the  stings  of  pain,  and  triumphed  over  their 
vain  attempts,  to  compel  them  to  sin  against  their  God. 
One  would  sometimes  be  ready  to  wonder,  that  a 
God  of  infinite  mercy  and  compassion  should  suffer  his 
own  dear  children  to  be  tried  in  so  terrible  a  manner  as 
this  ;  but  unsearchable  wisdom  is  with  him,  and  he  does 
not  give  an  account  to  men  of  all  the  reasons  and  the 
rules  of  his  conduct.  This  has  been  his  method  of 
providence  with  his  saints  at  especial  seasons,  under  the 
Jewish  and  the  christian  dispensations,  and  perhaps 
under  all  the  dispensations  of  God  to  men,  from  the 
days  of  Cain  and  Abel  to  the  present  hour.  Our  bless- 
ed Lord  has  given  us  many  warnings  of  it  in  his  word 
by  his  own  mouth,  and  by  all  his  three  apostles,  Paul, 
Peter  and  Jolm.  They  that  will  live  godly  in  Christ 
Jesus  shall  sujfer  j)erseciition.  Think  it  not  strange 
therefore  concerning  the  fiery  trial.  The  devil,  by  his 
\vicked  agents  shall  cast  some  of  yon  into  prison,  that 
ye  may  he  tried  ;"  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten  days, 
but  fear  none  of  the  things  ivhich  thou  shall  suffer. 
Se  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  icill  give  thee  a  crown 

of  If^- 

But  blessed  be  God  tliat  this  w  orld  is  the  only  stage 
of  such  trials.  As  soon  as  the  state  of  probation  is  fin- 
ished, the  state  of  recompence  begins.  Such  hard  and 
painful  exercises  to  try  the  virtues  of  the  saints,  liave  no 
place  in  that  world  which  was  not  made  for  a  stage  of 
trial  and  conflict,  but  a  palace  of  glorious  reward. 
Heaven  is  a  place  wliere  crowns  and  prizes  are  distrib- 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  283 

uted  to  all  those  blessed  ones  who  have  enduved  temp- 
tation, and  who  have  been  found  faithful  to  the  death. 
These  sharp  and  dreadful  combats  with  pain,  have  no 
place  among  conquerors,  who  have  finished  their  war- 
fare, and  have  begun  their  U'iuraph. 

4.  Pain  is  sent  us  by  the  hand  of  providence  to  teach 
.us  many  a  lesson  both  of  truth  and  duty,  ivhich  perhaps 
ive  should  never  have  learnt  so  well  without  it.  This 
sharp  sensation  awakens  our  best  powers  to  attend  to 
those  truths  and  duties  which  we  took  less  notice  of 
before.  In  the  time  of  perfect  ease  we  are  ready  to  let 
them  lie  neglected  or  forgotten,  till  God  our  great  Mas- 
ter takes  his  rod  in  hand  for  our  instruction. 


SECTION  IV, 

And  this  leads  me  to  the  fourth  general  head  of  my 
discourse;  and  that  is  to  enquire  what  are  those  spiritual 
lessons  which  may  be  learnt  on  earth  from  the  pains  ice 
have  suffered,  or  may  suffer  in  the  flesh.  I  shall  divide 
them  into  two  sorts,  viz.  Lessons  of  instructiou  in  useful 
truth,  and  lessons  of  duty,  or  practical  Christianity  ;  and 
there  are  many  of  each  kind  with  which  the  disciples  of 
Christ  in  this  world  may  be  better  acquainted,,  by  tlie 
actual  sensations  of  pain,  than  any  other  way.  In  this 
tvorld  I  say,  and  in  this  only  /  for  in  heaven  most  of 
these  lessons  of  doctrine  and  practice  are  utterly  need- 
less to  be  taught,  either  because  they  have  been  so  per- 
fectly well  known  to  all  its  inhabitants  before,  and  their 
present  situation  makes  it  impossible  to  forget  them  ; 
or  they  shall  be  let  into  the  fuller  knowledge  of  them  in 
heaven  in  a  far  superior  way  of  instruction,  and  without 
any  such  uneasy  discipline.  And  this  I  shall  evidently 
make  appear,  when  1  first  enumerated  all  these  general 
lessons  both  of  truth  and  duty,  and  shewn  how  wisely 
the  great  God  has  appointed  them  to  be  taught  here  on 


284  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

earth,  under  the  scourge  and  the  wholesome  discipline 
of  pain  in  the  flesh. 

I.   The  lessons  ofhistruction  here  on  earth,  or  the  use- 
ful truths,  are  such  as  these  : 

1.  Pain  teaches  us  feelingly,  what  feeble  creatures  we 
are,  and  how  entirely  dependant  on  God  our  maker  for 
every  hour  and  moment  of  ease.  We  are  naturally  wild 
and  wanton  creatures,  and  especially  in  the  season  of 
youth,  our  gayer  powers  are  gadding  abroad  at  the  call 
of  every  temptation  ;  but  when  God  sends  his  arrows 
into  our  flesh,  he  arrests  us  on  a  sudden,  and  teaches  us 
that  we  are  but  men,  poor  feeble  dying  creatures,  soon 
crushed,  and  sinking  under  his  hand.  We  are  ready 
to  exult  in  the  vigor  of  youth,  when  animal  nature,  in 
its  prime  of  strength  and  glory,  raises  our  pride,  and 
supports  us  in  a  sort  of  self-sufficiency  ;  we  are  so  vain 
and  foolish,  as  to  imagine  nothing  can  hurt  us.  But 
when  the  pain  of  a  little  nerve  seizes  us,  and  we  feel 
the  acute  twinges  of  it,  we  are  made  to  confess  that  our 
fiesh  is  not  iron,  nor  our  bones  brass  ,*  that  we  are  by  no 
means  the  lords  of  ourselves,  or  sovereigns  over  our  own 
nature.  We  cannot  remove  the  least  degree  of  pain,  till 
the  Lord  who  sent  it  takes  oiF  his  hand,  and  commands 
the  smart  to  cease.  If  the  torture  fix  itself  but  in  a 
finger  or  a  toe,  or  in  the  little  nerve  of  a  tooth,  what  in- 
tense agonies  may  it  create  in  us,  and  that  beyond  all 
the  relief  of  medicines,  till  the  moment  wherein  God 
shall  give  us  ease.  This  lesson  of  the  frailty  of  human 
nature  must  be  some  time  written  upon  our  hearts  in  deep 
and  smarting  characters,  by  intense  pain,  before  we  have 
learnt  it  well ;  and  this  gives  us,  for  some  time  to  come, 
a  happy  guard  against  our  pride  and  vanily  ;  Psalms 
xxxix.  10.  When  David  felt  the  stroke  of  the  hand 
of  God  upon  him,  and  corrected  him  with  sharp  rebukes 
for  his  iniquity,  he  makes  an  humble  address  to  God, 
and  acknowledges  that  his  beauty,  and  all  the  boasted 


\ 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED,  285 

exceUencies  of  flesh  and  blood,  consume  away  like  a 
moth;  surely  every  man  is  vanity  f  Psalm  xxxix.  10, 11. 

2.  The  next  useful  truth  in  which  pain  instructs  us, 
Is  the  great  evil  that  is  contained  in  the  nature  of  sin, 
because  it  is  the  occasion  of  such  intense  pain  and  mis- 
ery to  human  nature.  1  grant,  I  have  hinted  this  before, 
but  I  would  have  it  more  powerfully  impressed  upon 
our  spirits,  and  therefore  I  introduce  it  here  again  in 
this  part  of  my  discourse  as  a  spiritual  lesson,  which  we 
learn  under  the  discipline  of  our  heavenly  Father. 

It  is  true  indeed  that  innocent  nature  was  made  capa- 
ble of  pain  in  the  first  Adam,  and  the  innocent  nature 
of  the  man  Jesus  Christ  suifered  acute  pain,  when  he 
came  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh.  But  if  Adam  had 
continued  in  this  state  of  innocence,  it  is  a  great  ques- 
tion with  me,  whether  he  or  his  children  would  have 
actually  tasted  or  felt  what  acute  pain  is ;  I  mean  such 
pain  as  we  now  suifer,  such  as  makes  us  so  far  unhappy^ 
and  such  as  we  cannot  immediately  relieve. 

It  may  be  granted,  that  natural  hunger,  and  thirst, 
and  weariness  after  labor,  would  have  carried  in  them 
some  degrees  of  pain  or  uneasiness,  even  in  the  state  of 
innocence  ;  but  these  are  necessary  to  awaken  nature  to 
seek  food  and  rest,  and  to  put  the  man  in  mind  to  supply 
his  natural  wants  ;  and  man  might  have  immediately 
relieved  them  himself,  for  the  supplies  of  ease  were  at 
band  ;  and  these  sort  of  uneasinesses  were  abundantly 
compensated  by  the  pleasure  of  rest  and  food,  and  per- 
haps  they  were  in  some  measure  necessary  to  make 
food  and  rest  pleasant. 

But  surely  if  sin  had  never  been  known  in  our  world, 
all  the  pain  that  arises  from  inward  diseases  of  nature, 
or  from  outward  violence,  had  been  a  stranger  to  the 
human  race,  an  unknown  evil  among  the  sons  of  men, 
as  it  is  among  the  holy  angels,  the  sons  of  God.  There 
had  been  no  distempers  or  acute  pains  to  meet  young 


286  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

babes  at  their  entrance  into  this  world  ;  no  maladies  to 
attend  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam  through  the 
journey  of  life  ;  and  they  should  have  been  translated 
to  some  higher  and  happier  region,  without  death,  and 
withot  pain. 

It  was  the  eating  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil,  that  acquainted  Adam  and  his  offspring  with 
the  evil  of  pain.  Or  if  pain  could  have  attacked  inno- 
cence in  any  form  or  degree,  it  would  have  been  but 
in  a  way  of  trial,  to  exercise  and  illustrate  his  virtues  ; 
and  if  he  had  endured  the  test,  and  continued  innocent, 
I  am  satisfied  he  should  never  liave  felt  any  pain  which 
was  not  overbalanced  with  superior  pleasure,  or  abun- 
dantly recompenced  by  succeeding  rewards  and  satis 
factions. 

Some  persons  indeed,  have  supposed  it  within  the 
reach  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  to  afflict  and  torment  a 
sinless  creature.  Yet  I  think  it  is  hardly  consistent 
with  his  goodness,  or  his  equity,  to  constrain  an  inno- 
cent being,  which  has  no  sin,  to  suffer  pain  without  his 
own  consent,  and  without  giving  that  creature  equal  or 
superior  pleasure  as  a  recorapence.  Both  those  were 
the  case  in  tlie  sufferings  of  our  blessed  Lord  in  his 
human  nature,  who  was  perfectly  innocent.  It  was 
with  his  own  consent  that  he  gave  himself  up  to  be  a 
sacrifice,  when  it  pleased  the  Father  to  bruise  him  and 
put  him  to  grief.  And  God  rewarded  him  with  trans- 
cendant  honors  and  joys  after  his  passion,  he  exalted 
him  to  his  own  right  hand  and  his  throne,  and  gave 
him  authority  over  all  tilings. 

In  general  therefore  we  have  sufficient  reason  to  say, 
that  as  sin  brought  in  death  into  human  nature,  so  it 
was  sin  that  brought  in  pain  also ;  and  wheresoever 
there  is  any  pain  suffered  among  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  men,  I  am  sure  we  may  venture  to  assert  boldly,  tliat 
the  sufferer  may  learn  the  evil  of  sin.     Even  the  Son  of 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  287 

God  himself,  when  he  suffered  pain  in  his  body,  as  well 
as  anguish  in  his  spirit,  has  told  us  by  his  apostles, 
that  our  sins  were  the  causes  of  it ;  he  bore  our  sins  on 
his  own  body  on  the  tree,  and  for  our  iniquities  he  was 
bruised,  so  says  Isaiah  the  prophet,  and  so  speaks  Peter 
the  apostle. 

And  sometimes  the  providence  of  God  is  pleased  to 
point  out  to  us  the  particular  sin  we  are  guilty  of  by  the 
special  punishment  which  he  inflicts.  In  Psalm  cvii. 
17,  iS,  fools  are  said  to  be  affl.icted;  that  is,  with  pain 
and  sickness,  because  of  their  transgressions  of  riot  and 
intemperance;  their  soul  abhors  all  manner  of  meat,  and 
they  draw  near  to  the  gates  of  death.  Sickness  and 
pain  overbalance  all  the  pleasures  of  luxury  in  meats 
and  drinks,  and  makes  the  epicure  pay  dear  for  the 
elegance  of  his  palate,  and  the  sweet  relish  of  his  mor- 
sels or  his  cups.  The  drunkard  in  his  debauchees,  is 
preparing  some  smarting  pain  for  his  own  punislunent. 
And  let  us  all  be  so  wise  as  to  learn  tlris  lesson  by  the 
pains  we  feel,  that  sin  which  introduced  them  into  the 
world,  is  an  abominable  tiling  in  the  sight  of  God,  be- 
cause it  provokes  him  to  use  such  smarting  strokes  of 
discipline,  in  order  to  recover  us  from  our  folly,  and 
to  reduce  us  back  again  to  the  paths  of  righteousness. 

O  blessed  smart !  O  happy  pain,  that  helps  to  soften 
the  heart  of  a  sinner,  and  melts  it  to  receive  divine  in- 
struction, which  before  was  h^rd  as  iron,  and  at^eniSed 
to  no  divine  counsel  !  We  are  ready  to  wander  from 
God,  and  forget  him  amongst  the  montlis  and  the  years 
of  ease  and  pleasure  ;  but  when  the  soul  is  melted  in 
this  furnace  of  painful  sufferings,  it  more  easily  receives 
some  divine  stamp,  some  lasting  impression  of  truHi, 
which  the  words  of  the  preacher  and  the  book  of  God, 
had  before  inculcated  without  success,  and  repeated 
almost  in  vain.  Happy  is  the  soul  that  learns  this  les- 
son thoroughly,  and  gains  a  more  lasting  acquaintance 


:^88  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

with  the  evil  of  sin,  and  abliorrence  of  it,  under  the 
smarting  stroke  of  the  hand  of  God.  Blessed  is  the  man 
whom  thou  correctest,  O  Lord,  and  teachest  him  the 
truths  that  are  written  in  thy  law  ;  Psalm  xciv.  12. 

3.  Fain  in  the  flesh  teaches  us  also  how  dreadfully  the 
great  God  can  punish  sin  and  sinners  ichen  he  pleasei?, 
in  this  ivorld  or  in  the  other.  It  is  written  in  the  song 
of  Moses,  the  man  of  God  ;  Psalm  xc.  11  ;  According 
to  thy  fear,  so  is  thy  wrath  ;  that  is,  the  displeasure  and 
auger  of  the  blessed  God  is  as  terrible  as  we  can  fear  it 
to  be  ;  and  he  cau  inflict  on  us  such  intense  pains  and 
agonies,  whose  distressing  smart  we  may  learii  by  feel- 
ing a  little  of  them.  Unknown  multiplications  of  rack- 
ing pain,  lengtliened  out  beyond  years  and  ages,  is  part 
of  the  description  of  hellish  torments,  aud  tlie  other  part 
lies  in  the  bitter  twinges  of  conscience,  and  keen  remorse 
of  soul,  for  our  past  iniquities,  but  without  all  hope. 
Beliold  a  man  under  a  sharp  fit  of  the  gout  or  stone, 
which  wrings  the  groans  from  his  heart,  and  tears  from 
his  eyelids  ;  this  is  the  hand  of  God  in  the  present 
world,  where  there  are  many  mixtures  of  divine  good- 
ness ;  but  if  ever  we  should  be  so  wilfully  unliappy  as 
to  be  plunged  into  those  regions  where  the  almighty 
vengeance  of  God  reigns,  without  one  beam  of  divine 
light  or  love,  this  must  be  dreadful  indeed.  It  is  a 
fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God; 
Ileb.  X.  31  ;  to  be  banished  far  off*  from  all  that  is  holy 
and  happy,  and  to  be  confined  to  that  dark  dungeon, 
that  place  of  torture,  where  the  gnawing  worm  of  con- 
science never  dies,  and  where  the  fire  of  divine  anger  is 
never  quenched. 

We  who  are  made  up  of  flesh  and  blood,  which  is 
interwoven  witli  many  nerves  and  muscles,  and  mem- 
branes, may  learn  a  little  of  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  if 
we  reflect  that  every  nerve,  muscle,  and  membrane  of  the 
body,  is  capable  of  giving  us  most  sharp  aud  painful  sen- 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  g89 

satious.  We  may  be  wounded  in  every  sensible  part  of 
nature  ;  smart  and  anguish  may  enter  in  at  every  pore, 
and  make  almost  every  atom  of  our  constitution  an  in- 
strument of  our  anguish.  Fearfully  and  wonderfully 
are  we  formed  indeed,  capable  of  pain  all  over  us  ;  and 
if  a  God  shall  see  fit  to  punish  sin  to  its  full  desert,  and 
penetrate  every  atom  of  our  nature  with  pain,  what  sur- 
prising and  intolerable  misery  must  that  be  ?  And  if 
God  should  raise  the  wicked  out  of  their  graves  to  dwell 
in  such  sort  of  bodies  again,  on  purpose  to  shew  his  just 
anger  against  sin  in  their  punishment,  how  dreadful,  he^ 
yond  expression,  must  their  anguish  be  through  the  long 
ages  of  eternity  ?  God  can  form  even  such  bodies  for 
immortality,  and  can  sustain  them  to  endure  everlasting 
agonies. 

Let  us  think  again,  that  when  the  hand  of  our  Crea- 
tor sends  pain  into  our  flesh,  we  cannot  avoid  it,  we  can- 
not fly  from  it,  we  carry  it  with  us  wheresoever  we  go. 
His  arrows  stick  fast  in  us,  and  we  cannot  shake  them 
off.  Oftentimes  it  appears  that  we  can  find  no  relief  from 
creatures.  And  if  by  the  destruction  of  ourselves,  that 
is,  of  these  bodies,  we  plunge  ourselves  into  the  world 
of  spirits  at  once,  we  shall  find  the  same  God  of  holiness 
and  vengeance  there,  who  can  pierce  our  souls  with  un- 
known sorrows,  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  all  that  we  felt 
in  the  flesh.  If  I  make  m^  bed  in  the  grave,  Lord,  thou 
art  there,  thy  hand  of  justice  and  punishment  would 
find  me  out. 

What  a  formidable  thing  is  it  to  such  creatures  as  we 
are,  to  have  God,  our  Maker,  for  our  enemy  ?  That 
God  who  has  all  the  tribes  of  pain  and  disease,  and  the 
innumerable  host  of  maladies,  at  his  command  ?  He  fills 
the  air  in  which  we  breathe,  with  fevers  and  pestilences 
as  often  as  he  will.  The  gout  and  the  stone  arrest  and 
seize  us  by  his  order,  and  stretch  us  upon  a  bed  of  pain. 
Rheumatisms  and  cholics  come  and  go  wheresoever  he 
37 


a90  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

sends  them,  and  execute  his  anger  agahist  criminals.  He 
keeps  in  his  hand  all  the  various  springs  of  pain,  and 
every  invisible  rack  that  can  torment  the  head  or  mem- 
bers, the  bowels  or  the  joints  of  man.  He  sets  them  at 
their  dreadful  work  when  and  where  he  pleases.  Let 
the  sinner  tremble  at  the  name  of  his  power  and  terror, 
who  can  fill  both  flesh  and  spirit  with  thrilling  agonies  ; 
and  yet  he  never  punishes  beyond  what  our  iniquities  de- 
serve. How  necessary  is  it  for  such  sinful  and  guilty 
beings  as  we  are,  whose  natures  are  capable  of  such  con- 
stant and  acute  sensations  of  pain,  to  have  the  God  of 
nature  our  friend  and  our  reconciled  God  ? 

4.  When  we  feel  the  acute  pains  of  nature,  we  may 
learn  something  of  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  love 
of  Christ,  even  the  Son  of  God,  that  glorious  Spirit, 
who  took  upon  him  flesh  and  blood  for  our  sakes,  that 
he  might  be  capable  of  pain  and  death,  though  he  had 
never  sinned.  He  endured  intense  anguish,  to  make 
atonement  for  our  crimes.  Because  the  children  whom 
he  came  to  save  from  misery  ivera  j^artakers  of  flesh  and 
hlood,  he  also  himself  took  part  of  the  same,  that  he 
might  suffer  in  the  flesh,  and  by  his  sufferings  put  away 
our  sins. 

Happy  was  he  in  his  Father's  bosom,  and  the  delight 
of  his  soul  through  many  long  ages  before  his  incarna- 
tion. But  he  condescended  to  be  born  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh,  that  he  might  feel  such  smart  and  sorrows 
as  our  sins  had  exposed  us  to.  His  innocent  and  holy 
soul  was  incapable  of  such  sort  of  sufferings,  till  he  put 
on  this  clothing  of  human  nature,  and  become  a  Surety 
for  sinful,  perishing  creatures. 

Let  us  survey  his  sufferings  a  little.  He  w  as  born  to 
sorrow,  and  trained  up  through  the  common  uneasy  cir- 
cumstances of  the  infant  and  childisli  state,  till  lie  grew 
up  to  man.  What  pains  did  attend  him  in  hunger  and 
thirst,  and  weariness,  while  he  travelled  on  foot  from  city 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  291 

to  city,  through  wilds  and  deserts,  where  there  was  no 
food  nor  rest  ?  The  Son  of  man  sometimes  wanted 
the  common  bread  of  nature,  nor  had  he  where  to  lay 
his  head.  What  uneasy  sensations  was  he  exposed  to, 
when  he  was  buffeted,  when  he  was  smitten  on  the 
cheek,  when  his  tender  flesh  was  scourged  with  whips, 
and  his  temples  were  crowned  with  thorns,  when  his 
hands  and  his  feet  were  barbarously  torn  with  rude  nails, 
and  fastened  to  the  cross,  where  the  whole  weight  of  his 
body  hung  on  those  wounds  ?  And  w  hat  man  or  angel 
can  tell  the  inward  anguish,  when  his  soul  was  exceed- 
ing sorrowful  unto  death  ;  and  the  conflicts  and  agonies 
of  his  spirit  forced  out  the  drops  of  bloody  sweat  througli 
every  pore.  It  was  by  the  extreme  torture  of  his  nature, 
that  he  was  supposed  to  expire  on  the  cross.  These 
were  the  pangs  of  his  atonement  and  agonies,  that  expi- 
ated the  sins  of  men. 

O  blessed  Jesus !    What  manner  of  sufferings  were 

these  ?     And  what  manner  of  love  was  it  that  willingly 

gave  up  thy  sacred  nature  to  sustain  them  ?     And  what 

was  the  design  of  them,  but  to  deliver  us  from  the  wrath 

of  God  in  hell,  to  save  our  flesh  and  spirit  from  eternal 

anguish  and  distress  there  ?     Why  was  he  made  such  a 

curse  for  us,  but  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  the  curse 

of  the  law,  and  the  just  punishment  of  our  own  iniquities. 

Let  us  carry  our  thoughts  of  his  love,  and  our  benefit 

by  it,  yet  one  step  further.  Was  it  not  by  these  sorrows, 

and  this  painful  passion,  that  he  provided  for  us  this  very 

heaven  of  happiness,  where  we  shall  be  for  ever  freed 

from  all  pain  ?     Were  they  not  all  endured  by  him  to 

procure  a  paradise  of  pleasure,  a  mansion  of  everlasting 

peace    and  joy  for   guilty  creatures,  who   had   merited 

everlasting  pain  ?     Was  it  not  by  these  his  agonies  in 

the  mortal  body  which  he  assumed,  that  he  purchased 

for  each  of  us  a  glorified  body,  strong  and  immortal  as 

his  own,  when  he  rose  from  the  dead,  a  body  which  has 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

no  seeds  of  disease  or  pain  in  it,  no  springs  of  mortality 
or  death  ?  May  §lory,  honor,  and  praise,  with  supreme 
pleasure,  ever  attend  the  sacred  person  of  our  Redeemer, 
whose  sorrows  and  anguish  of  flesh  and  spirit,  were 
equal  to  our  misery,  and  to  his  own  compassion. 

5.  Another  lesson  which  we  are  taught  by  the  long 
and  tiresome  pains  of  nature,  is  the  value  and  worth  of 
the  word  of  God,  and  the  sweetness  of  a  promise  which 
can  give  the  kindest  relief  to  a  painful  hour,  and  sooth 
the  anguish  of  nature.  They  teach  us  the  excellency  of 
the  covenant  of  grace,  which  has  sometimes  strengthened 
the  feeblest  pieces  of  human  nature  to  bear  intense  suf- 
ferings in  the  body,  and  which  sanctifies  them  all  to  our 
advantage.  Painful  and  tiresome  maladies  teach  us  to 
improve  the  promises  to  valuable  purposes,  and  the 
promises  take  away  half  the  smart  of  our  pains  by  the 
sensations  of  divine  love  let  into  the  soul. 

We  read  of  philosophers  and  heroes  in  some  ancient 
histories,  who  could  endure  pain  by  dint  of  reasoning, 
by  a  pride  of  their  science,  by  an  obstinacy  of  heart,  or 
by  natural  courage  ;  but  a  christian  takes  the  word  of  a 
promise,  and  lies  down  upon  it  in  the  midst  of  intense 
pains  of  nature ;  and  the  pleasure  of  devotion  supplies 
him  with  such  ease,  that  all  the  reasonings  of  philosophy, 
all  the  courage  of  nature,  all  the  anodynes  of  medicine, 
and  soothing  plaisters  have  attempted  without  success. 
When  a  child  of  God  can  read  his  Fatlier's  love  in  a 
promise,  and  by  searching  into  the  qualifications  of  liis 
own  soul,  can  lay  faster  hold  of  it  by  a  living  faith,  the 
rage  of  his  pain  is  much  allayed,  and  made  half  easy.  A 
promise  is  a  sweet  couch  to  rest  a  languishing  body  in 
the  midst  of  pains,  and  a  soft  repose  for  the  head  or 
heart- ache. 

The  Stoics  pretended  to  give  ease  to  pain,  by  per- 
suading themselves  there  was  no  evil  in  it ;  as  thougli 
the  mere  misnaming  of  things  would  destroy  their  na- 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BI.ESSED.  29g 

ture.  But  the  christian,  by  a  sweet  submission  to  the 
evil  which  his  heavenly  Father  inflicts  upon  his  flesh, 
reposes  himself  at  the  foot  of  Gcd  on  the  covenant  of 
grace,  and  bears  the  wounds  and  the  smart  with  much 
more  serenity  and  honor.  '*  It  is  my  heavenly  Father  that 
scourges  me,  and  I  know  he  designs  me  no  hurt,  though 
he  fills  my  flesh  with  pi'esent  pain.  His  own  presence 
and  the  sense  of  his  love,  soften  the  anguish  of  all  that 
I  feel.  He  bids  me  not  yield  to  fear,  for  when  I  pass 
through  the  fires  he  will  he  with  me  ;  and  he  that  loved 
me,  and  died  for  me,  has  suffered  greater  sorrows  and 
more  anguish  on  my  account,  than  what  he  calls  me  to 
bear  under  the  strokes  of  his  wise  and  holy  discipline. 
He  has  left  his  word  with  me  as  an  universal  medicine, 
to  relieve  me  under  all  my  anguish,  till  he  shall  bring 
me  to  those  mansions  on  high,  where  sorrows  and  pains 
are  found  no  more." 

6.  Anguish  and  pain  of  nature  here  on  earth  teach  us 
the  excellency  and  use  of  the  mercy  seat  in  heaveii.  and 
the  admirable  privilege  of  prayer.  Even  the  sons  of 
mere  nature,  are  ready  to  think  of  God  at  such  a  season ; 
and  they  who  never  prayed  before,  pour  out  a  prayer  he- 
fore  him  when  his  chastening  is  upon  them  ;  Isaiah 
xxvi.  16.  An  hour  of  twinging  and  tormenting  pain, 
when  creatures  and  medicines  can  give  no  relief,  drives 
them  to  the  throne  of  God,  to  try  wSiether  he  will  relieve 
them  or  not.  But  much  more  delightful  is  it  for  a  child 
of  God  that  has  been  used  to  address  the  throne  of  grace, 
to  run  thither  with  pleasure  and  hope,  and  to  spread  all 
his  anguish  before  the  face  of  his  heavenly  Father.  The 
blessed  God  has  built  this  mercy-seat  for  his  people  to 
bring  all  their  son^ows  thither,  and  spread  them  before 
his  eyes  in  all  their  smarting  circumstances,  and  he  has 
been  often  pleased  to  speak  a  word  of  relief. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  dwelt  in  flesh  and 
blood,  practised  this  part  of  religion  with  holy  satisfac- 


294  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

tioii  and  success.  Being  in  an  agony  he  prayed  more 
earnestly  J  and  an  angel  was  sent  to  strengthen  and  com- 
fort him ;  Luke  xxii.  43,  44.  This  was  the  relief  of 
holy  David  in  ancient  times;  Psalm  xxv.  18.  Look 
upon  my  affiiction  and  my  pain,  and  pardon  all  my  sins  ; 
Psalm  cxvi.  S,  4.  The  sorrows  of  death  compasseth  me, 
and  the  pains  of  hell,  or  the  grave,  took  hold  of  me  ;  then 
called  I  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  O  Lord,  I  beseech 
thee,  deliver  my  soul.  And  when  he  found  a  gracious 
answer  to  his  request,  he  acknowledges  the  grace  of  God 
therein,  and  charges  his  soul  to  dwell  near  to  God ;  re- 
turn  to  thy  rest,  O  my  soul,  for  the  Lord  hath  dealt 
bountifully  with  thee.  I  was  brought  low,  and  he  helped 
me  ;  he  delivered  my  soul  from  death,  and  mine  eyes 
from  tears. 

But  we  have  stronger  encouragement  than  David  was 
acquainted  with,  since  it  is  revealed  to  us.  that  we  have 
an  High  Priest  at  this  throne  ready  to  bespeak  all  ne- 
cessary relief  for  us  there  ;  Heb.  ii.  18.  An  High  Priest 
7vho  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities, 
who  has  sustained  the  same  sorrows  and  pains  in  the 
flesh,  who  can  pity  and  relieve  his  people  under  their 
maladies  and  acutest  anguish ;  Heb.  iv.  15.  When  we 
groan  and  sigh  under  continued  pains,  they  are  ready  to 
make  nature  weary  and  faint.  We  groan  unto  the  Lord, 
who  knows  the  language  of  our  frailty.  Our  High 
Priest  carries  every  groan  to  the  mercy- seat.  His  com- 
passion works  towards  his  brethren,  and  he  will  suffer 
them  to  continue  no  longer  under  this  discipline,  than  is 
necessary  for  their  own  best  improvement  and  happiness. 

O  how  much  of  this  sort  of  consolation  has  many  a 
christian  learnt  and  tasted,  by  a  holy  intercourse  with 
heaven,  in  such  painful  seasons?  How  much  has  he 
learnt  of  the  tender  mercies  of  God  the  Fatlier,  and  of 
t  he  pity  and  sympathy  of  our  great  High  Priest  above  ? 
Wlio  would  be  content  to  live  in  such  a  painful  world  as 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  2Q5 

this  is,  without  the  pleasure  aud  relief  of  prayer  ?  Who 
would  live  without  an  interest  at  this  mercy-seat,  and 
without  the  supporting  friendship  of  this  Advocate  at  the 
throne  ? 

Thus  I  have  run  over  the  chief  lessons  of  instruction 
or  doctrine,  which  may  he  derived  from  our  sensations  of 
pain  here  in  this  world.  But  there  is  no  need  of  this 
sort  of  discipline  in  the  blessed  regions  of  heaven  to  teach 
the  irdial)itants  such  truths. 

They  will  remember  what  feeble,  helpless  creatures 
they  icere  when  they  dwelt  in  flesli  and  blood  ;  but  tliey 
have  put  off  those  ileshly  garments  of  mortality,  with  all 
its  weaknesses  together.  The  spirits  of  the  blessed 
know  nothing  of  those  frailties,  ,nor  shall  the  bodies  of 
the  saints,  new  raised  from  the  dust,  bring  back  any  of 
their  old  infirmities  with  them.  These  blessed  creatures 
know  well  how  entirely  dependent  they  are  for  all  things 
upon  God  their  Creator,  without  the  need  of  pains  and 
maladies  to  teach  them,  for  they  live  every  moment  with 
God,  and  in  a  full  dependence  upon  him.  They  are 
supported  in  their  life,  and  all  its  everlasting  blessings, 
by  his  immediate  presence,  power  and  mercy. 

They  liave  no  need  of  pain  in  those  fields  or  gardens 
of  pleasure  to  teach  them  tlie  evil  of  sin  ;  they  well  re- 
member all  the  sorrows  they  have  passed  through  in  their 
mortal  state,  while  they  were  traversing  tlie  wilderness 
of  this  world,  and  they  know  that  sin  was  the  cause  of 
them  all.  They  see  the  evil  of  sin  in  the  glass  of  the 
divine  holiness,  and  the  hateful  contrariety  that  is  in  it  to 
the  nature  of  God,  is  discovered  in  the  immediate  light  of 
all  his  perfections,  his  wisdom,  his  truth,  and  his  good- 
ness. They  behold  the  evil  of  sin  in  the  marks  of  the 
sufferings  of  their  blessed  Saviour  ;  he  appears  in  glory 
as  the  JLamb  that  was  slam,  and  carries  some  memorials 
of  his  death  about  him,  to  let  the  saints  know  for  ever 
what  he  has  suffered  to  make  atonement  for  their  sins. 


:396  ^O  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

Nor  have  the  blessed  above  any  need  to  learn  how 
dreadfully  God  can  punish  sin  and  sinners^  while  they 
behold  his  indignation  going  forth  in  a  long  and  endless 
stream,  to  make  the  wicked  enemies  of  God  in  hell  for 
ever  justly  miserable.  And  in  this  sense  it  may  be  said, 
that  the  smoke  of  their  torments  comes  up  before  God  and 
his  holy  angels,  and  his  saints  for  ever. 

Nor  do  these  happy  beings  stand  in  need  of  new  sen- 
sations of  pain,  to  teach  them  the  exeeeding  greatness  of 
the  love  of  Christ,  who  exposed  himself  to  intense  and 
smarting  anguish,  both  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  to  procure 
their  salvation.  For  while  they  dwell  amidst  the  bles- 
sedness of  that  state,  which  the  Redeemer  purcliased 
with  the  price  of  his  own  sufierings,  they  can  never  ferget 
his  love. 

Nor  do  they  want  to  learn  in  heaven  the  value  of  the 
word  of  God  and  his  promises,  by  which  they  were  sup- 
ported under  their  pains  and  sorrows  in  this  mortal  state. 
Those  promises  have  been  fuliilled  to  them  partly  on 
earth,  and  in  a  more  glorious  and  abundant  manner  in 
the  heavenly  world.  They  relish  the  sweetness  of  all 
those  words  of  mercy,  in  reviewing  the  means  whereby 
divine  grace  sustained  them  in  their  former  state  of  trial, 
and  in  the  complete  accomplisliment  of  the  best  of  those 
promises  in  their  present  situation,  amidst  ten  thousand 
endless  blessings. 

And  if  any  of  them  were  too  cold  and  remiss,  and  un- 
frequent  in  their  applications  to  the  mercy-seat  by  prayer, 
when  they  were  here  on  earth,  and  stood  in  need  of  chas- 
tisement to  make  them  pour  out  their  prayers  to  God,  yet 
they  can  never  forget  the  value  of  this  privilege,  while 
they  themselves  dwell  round  about  the  throne,  and  behold 
all  ther  ancient  sincere  addresses  to  the  mercy-seat  an- 
swered and  swallowed  up  in  the  full  fruition  of  their 
present  glories  and  joys.  Praise  is  properly  the  lan- 
guage of  heaven,  when  all  their  wants  are  supplied,  and 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  297 

their  jjrayers  on  earth  are  finished ;  and  whatever  fur- 
ther desires  they  may  have  to  present  before  God,  the 
throne  of  grace  is  ever  at  hand,  and  God  himself  is  ever 
in  the  midst  of  them  to  bestow  every  proper  blessing  in 
its  season  that  belongs  to  the  heavenly  world.  Not  one 
of  them  can  any  more  stand  in  need  of  chastisement  or 
painful  exercises  of  the  flesh  to  drive  them  to  the  throne 
of  God,  while  they  are  at  home  in  their  Father's  house, 
and  for  ever  near  him  and  his  all-sufficiency.  It  is  from 
thence  they  are  constantly  deriving  immortal  supplies  of 
blessedness,  as  from  a  spring  that  will  never  fail. 

SECTION  V. 

I  proceed  now  to  consider  in  the  last  place,  what  are 
the  practical  lessons  which  pain  may  teach  us  while  we 
are  here  on  earth  in  our  state  of  probation  and  discipline, 
and  shall  afterward  make  it  evident,  that  there  is  no 
need  of  pain  in  heaven  for  the  same  purposes. 

1.  The  frequent  returns  of  pain  may  put  us  in  mind 
to  offer  to  God  his  due  sacrifices  of  praise  for  the  months 
and  years  of  ease  which  we  have  enjoyed :  we  are  too 
ready  to  forget  the  mercy  of  God  herein,  unless  we  are 
awakened  by  new  painful  sensations  ;  and  when  we 
experience  new  relief,  then  our  lips  are  opened  with 
thankfulness,  and  our  mouth  shews  forth  his  praise. 
Then  we  cry  out  with  devout  language.  Blessed  be  the 
Lord  that  has  delivered  us  !  Wlien  we  have  been  op- 
pressed for  some  time  with  extreme  anguish,  then  one 
day,  or  one  hour  of  ease  fills  the  heart  and  the  tongue 
with  thankfulness  ;  blessed  be  the  God  of  nature  that  has 
appointed  medicines  to  restore  our  ease,  and  blessed  be 
that  goodness  that  has  given  success  to  them!  What  a 
rich  mercy  is  it,  under  our  acute  torments,  tliat  there  are 
methods  of  relief  and  healing  found  among  the  powers 
of  nature,  among  the  plants  and  the  herbs.  a!id  the  min- 
38 


398  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

eral  stores  which  are  under  ground?  Blessed  be  the 
Lord,  who  in  the  course  of  his  providence  has  given 
skill  to  physicians  to  compose  and  to  apply  the  proper 
means  of  relief!  Blessed  be  that  hand  that  has  plant- 
ed every  herb  in  the  field  or  the  garden,  and  has 
made  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  team  with  medicines 
for  the  recovery  of  our  health  and  ease  ;  and  blessed 
be  his  name  who  has  rebuked  our  maladies,  who  has 
constrained  the  smarting  diseases  to  depart  by  the  use 
of  balms  and  balsams  that  are  happily  applied  ! 

While  we  enjoy  the  benefits  of  common  life,  in  health 
of  body  and  in  easy  circumstances,  we  are  too  often 
thoughtless  of  the  hand  of  God,  which  showers  down 
these  favors  of  heaven  upon  us  in  long  and  constant  suc- 
cession ;  but  when  he  sees  fit  to  touch  us  with  his  finger, 
and  awaken  some  lurking  malady  within  us,  our  ease 
vanishes,  our  days  are  restless  and  painful,  and  tiresome 
nights  of  darkness  pass  over  us  without  sleep  or  repose. 
Then  we  repent  that  we  have  so  long  forgotten  the  God 
of  our  mercies  ;  and  we  learn  to  lift  up  our  praises  to  the 
Lord,  that  every  night  of  our  lives  lias  not  been  restless, 
that  every  day  and  hour  has  not  been  a  season  of  racking 
pain.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  that  enables  us,  without  an- 
guish or  uneasiness,  to  fulfil  the  common  business  of  the 
day  ;  and  blessed  be  his  hand  that  draws  the  peaceful 
curtains  of  the  night  round  about  us !  And  even  in  the 
midst  of  moderate  pains,  we  bless  his  name  who  gives 
us  refreshing  slumbers  ;  and  we  grow  more  careful  to 
employ  and  improve  every  moment  of  returning  ease,  as 
the  most  proper  way  of  expressing  our  thankfulness  to 
our  Almighty  healer. 

Alas,  what  poor,  sorry,  sinful  creatures  are  we  in 
the  present  state,  who  want  to  be  taught  the  value  of 
our  mercies  by  the  removal  of  them  !  Tlie  man  of  a 
robust  and  vigorous  make,  and  a  healthy  constitution, 
knows  not  the  true  worth  of  health  and  ease,  nor  sets 
a  due  value  upon   these  blessings  of  heaven !  But  we 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

are  taught  to  thank  God  feelingly,  for  an  easy  hour 
after  long  repeated  twinges  of  pain.  We  bless  that 
goodness  which  gives  us  an  easy  night  after  a  day  of 
distressing  anguish.  Blessed  be  the  God  of  nature  and 
grace,  that  has  not  made  the  gout  or  the  stone  immortal, 
nor  subjected  our  sensible  powers  to  an  everlasting 
cholick  or  tooth-ache. 

2.  Pain  in  the  flesh  more  effectually  teaches  us  to 
sympathise  with  those  who  suffer.  We  learn  a  ten- 
derness of  soul  experimentally  by  our  own  sufferings. 
We  generally  love  self  so  well  that  we  forget  our  neigh- 
bors under  special  tribulation  and  distress,  unless  we 
are  made  to  feel  them  too.  lu  a  particular  manner, 
"when  our  nature  is  pinched  and  pierced  through  with 
some  smarting  malady,  we  learn  to  pity  those  Avho  lie 
groaning  under  the  same  disease.  A  kindred  of  sor- 
rows and  sufferings  works  up  our  natures  into  compas- 
sion ;  and  we  find  our  own  hearts  more  sensibly  affect- 
ed with  the  groans  of  our  friends  under  a  sharp  fit  of 
the  gout  or  rheumatism,  when  we  ourselves  have  felt 
the  stings  of  the  same  distemper. 

Our  blessed  Saviour  himself,  though  he  wanted  nor 
compassion  and  love  to  the  children  of  men,  since  he 
came  down  from  heaven  on  purpose  to  die  for  them,  yet 
he  is  represented  to  us  as  our  merciful  High  Priest,  who 
had  learnt  sympathy  and  compassion  to  our  sorrows  in 
the  same  way  of  experience  as  we  learn  it.  He  was, 
encompassed  about  with  infirmities,  when  he  took  the 
sinless  frailties  of  our  nature  upon  him,  that  he  might 
learn  to  pity  us  under  those  frailties.  In  that  he  hi7n- 
self  hath  suffered  being  tempted,  he  is  able  to  succour 
them  that  are  tempted.  For  we  have  not  an  High  Priest 
which  cannot  be  touched  with  thefeelins;  of  our  infirmi- 
ties, but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  though 
he  ivas  always  without  sin  ;  and  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered,  he  may  be  said,  after  the  manner  of  men,  to 


300  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

learn  sympathy  and  pity  to  miserable  creatures,  as  well 
as  obedience  to  God,  who  is  blessed  for  ever ;  Heb.  ii. 
18,  and  iv.  15,  and  v.  2.  8. 

3.  Since  our  natures  are  subject  to  pain,  it  should 
teach  us  watchfulness  against  every  sin,  lest  we  double 
our  own  distresses  by  the  mixture  of  guilt  with  them. 
How  careful  should  we  be  to  keep  always  a  clear  con- 
science, that  we  may  be  able  at  all  times  to  look  up  with 
pleasure  to  the  hand  of  God  who  smites  us,  and  be  bet- 
ter composed  to  endure  the  pains  whicli  he  inflicts  upon 
us  for  our  trial  and  improvement  in  grace.  Innocence 
and  piety,  and  a  peaceful  conscience,  are  an  admirable 
defence  to  support  the  spirit  against  the  overwhelming 
eiforts  of  bodily  pain.  But  when  inward  reproaches  of 
mind,  and  a  racking  conscience  join  with  acute  pain  in 
the  flesh,  it  is  double  misery,  and  aggravated  wretched- 
ness. The  scourges  and  inward  remorse  of  our  owii 
hearts,  joined  to  the  sorrows  of  nature,  add  torment  to 
torment.  How  dreadful  is  it  when  we  are  forced  to 
confess,  1  have  procured  all  this  to  myself  by  intemper- 
ance, by  my  rashness,  by  my  obstinacy  against  the  advice 
q/*  friends,  and  rebellion  against  the  commands  of  God. 

Probably  it  was  such  circumstances  as  these,  tliat 
gave  the  soul  of  David  double  anguish, '  when  his  bones 
waxed  old,  through  his  roaring  all  the  day  long,  when 
day  and  night  the  hand  of  God  was  heavy  upon  him, 
and  his  moisture  was  turned  into  tlie  drought  of  sum- 
mer ;  when  he  complained  unto  God,  thine  arrows  stick 
fast  in  me,  and  thy  hand  presseth  me  sore  ;  there  is  no 
soundness  in  my  flesh,  because  of  thine  anger ;  nor  any 
rest  in  my  bones,  because  of  my  sin.  Mine  iniquities 
are  gone  over  mine  head  as  a  heavy  burden,  they  are 
too  heavy  for  me.  Deep  calls  unto  deep  at  the  noise  of 
thy  water-spouts  ;  all  thy  waves  and  thy  billows  are 
gone  over  me.'  The  deep  of  anguish  in  my  flesh  calls 
to  the  deep  of  sorrow  in  my  soul,  and  makes  a  tremend- 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  301 

ous  tumult  within  me.  My  wounds  stinky  and  are  cor- 
rupt, because  of  my  foolishness  ;  I  am  feeble  and  sore 
broken  ;  I  have  roared  by  reason  of  the  disquietness  of 
my  heart ;  nor  could  he  find  any  rest  or  ease  till  he  ac- 
knowledged his  sin  unto  God,  and  confessed  his  trans- 
gressions, and  till  he  had  some  comfortable  hope  that 
God  had  forgiven  the  iniquity  of  his  sin.  See  this  sor- 
rowful scene  exemplified  in  a  very  affecting  manner  in 
the  32d  and  38th  Psalms.  Happy  is  the  man  that  walks 
closely  with  his  God  in  the  days  of  health  and  ease, 
that  whenever  it  shall  please  his  heavenly  Father  to  try 
him  with  smarting  pain,  he  may  find  sweet  relief  from 
a  peaceful  conscience,  and  humble  appeals  to  God  con- 
cerning his  own  sincerity  and  watchfulness. 

4.  Pain  in  the  flesh  may  sometimes  be  sent  by  the 
hand  of  God,  to  teach  us  to  wean  ourselves  by  degrees 
from  this  body,  which  we  love  too  well ;  this  body,  which 
has  all  the  springs  of  pain  in  it.  How  little  should  we 
be  fond  of  this  flesh  and  blood  in  the  present  feeble  state, 
wherein  we  are  continually  liable  to  one  malady  or 
another  ;  to  the  head-ache  or  the  heart-ache,  to  wounds 
or  biTiises,  and  uneasy  sensations  of  various  kinds  ?  Nor 
can  the  soul  secure  itself  from  them,  while  it  is  so 
closely  united  to  this  mortal  body.  And  yet  we  are  too 
fond  of  our  present  dwelling,  though  it  be  but  a  cottage 
of  clay,  feeble  and  ruinous,  where  the  winds  and  the 
storms  are  continually  ready  to  break  in  and  distress  us. 
A  sorry  habitation  indeed  for  an  immortal  spirit,  since 
sin  has  mingled  so  many  diseases  in  our  constitution, 
has  made  so  many  avenues  for  smart  and  anguish  in  our 
flesh,  and  we  are  capable  of  admitting  pain  and  agonies 
at  every  pore. 

Pain  is  appointed  to  be  a  sort  of  balance  to  the  tempt- 
ing pleasures  of  life,  and  to  make  us  feel  that  perfect 
happiness  does  not  grow  among  the  inhabitants  of  flesh 
and  blood.    Pain  takes  away  the  pleasures  of  the  day 


SOS  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

and  the  repose  of  the  night,  and  makes  life  bitter  in  all 
the  returning  seasons.  The  God  of  nature  and  grace 
is  pleased,  by  sending  sickness  and  pain,  to  loosen  his 
own  children  by  degrees  from  their  fond  attachment  to 
this  fleshly  tabernacle,  and  to  make  us  willing  to  depart 
at  his  call. 

A  long  continuance  of  pain,  or  the  frequent  repeated 
twinges  of  it,  will  teach  a  christian  and  incline  him  to 
meet  death  with  courage,  at  the  appointed  hour  of  re- 
lease. This  will  much  abate  the  fierceness  of  the  king 
of  terrors,  when  he  appears  as  a  sovereign  physician  to 
finish  every  malady  of  nature.  Death  is  sanctified  to 
the  holy  soul,  and  by  the  covenant  of  grace  this  curse  of 
nature  is  changed  into  a  blessing.  The  grave  is  a  safe 
retiring  place  from  all  the  attacks  of  disease  and  anguish. 
And  there  are  some  incurables  here  on  earth,  which  can 
find  no  perfect  relief  but  in  the  grave.  Neither  maladies 
nor  tyrants  can  stretch  their  terrors  beyond  this  life  ; 
and  if  we  can  but  look  upon  death  as  a  conquered  enemy, 
and  its  sting  taken  away  by  the  death  of  Christ,  we  shall 
easily  venture  into  this  last  combat,  and  obtain  an  ever- 
lasting victory.  Blessed  be  God  for  the  grave  as  a 
refuge  from  smarting  pains  !  Thanks  be  to  God  through 
Christ  Jesus,  who  enables  us  to  triumph  over  the  last 
pain  of  nature,  and  to  say,  O  death  where  is  thy  sting  ? 
and  0  grave  wliere  is  thy  victory  P 

In  the  fifth  and  last  place,  by  the  pains  that  we  suffer 
in  this  body,  we  are  taught  to  breathe  after  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  heavenly  state  wherein  there  shall  be  no  pain. 
When  the  soul  is  dismissed  from  the  bonds  of  flesh,  and 
presented  before  God  in  the  world  of  spirits  without  spot 
or  blemish  by  Jesus  our  great  Forerunner,  it  is  then  ap- 
pointed to  dwell  among  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  per- 
fect, who  were  all  released  in  their  several  seasons  from 
the  body  of  flesh  and  sin.  Maladies  and  infirmities  of 
every  kind  are  buried  in  the  grave/,  and  cease  for  ever  : 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  303 

and  if  we  survey  the  properties  of  the  new  raised  body 
in  the  great  resurrection  day,  as  described  1  Cor.  xv.  we 
shall  find  no  room  for  pain  there,  no  avenue  or  residence 
for  smart  or  anguish.  It  will  not  be  such  a  body  of  flesh 
and  blood  which  can  be  a  source  of  maladies,  or  subject 
to  outward  injuries  ;  but  by  its  own  principles  of  innate 
vigor  and  immortality,  as  well  as  by  the  power  and 
mercy  of  God,  it  shall  be  for  ever  secured  from  those 
uneasy  sensations  which  made  our  flesh  on  earth  painful 
and  burdensome,  and  which  tended  toward  dissolution 
and  death.  It  is  such  a  body  as  our  Lord  Jesus  wore 
at  his  ascent  to  heaven  in  a  bright  cloud  for  ever  incor- 
ruptible ;  fot^'flesh  and  blood  connot  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,  neither  doth  corrujption  inherit  incorruption. 
Jls  we  have  home  the  image  of  the  earthly  Ac! am  in  the 
frailties  and  sufferings  that  belong  to  it,  so  shall  we  also 
hear  the  image  of  the  heavenly,  even  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  he 
fashioned  like  unto  his  own  glorious  body,  according  to 
the  working  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  unto 
himself;  Phil.  iii.  SI.  We  shall  hunger  no  more,  we 
shall  thirst  no  more,  nor  shall  the  sun  light  on  us  with 
its  parching  beams,  nor  shall  we  be  annoyed  with  fire 
or  frost,  with  heat  or  cold,  in  those  temperate  and  happy- 
regions.  The  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
shall  feed  his  people  for  ever  there  with  the  fruits  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  with  unknown  entertainments  suited  to 
a  glorified  state.  He  shall  lead  them  to  living  fountains 
of  waters,  and  God  shall  wijpe  away  all  tears  from  their 
eyes. 

Thus  have  I  set  before  you  the  practical  lessons  which 
pain  is  designed  to  teach  us  in  our  present  state ;  and 
we  find  that  a  body  subject  to  maladies  and  pains,  is  a 
well  appointed  school,  wherein  our  great  Master  gives 
us  these  divine  instructions,  and  trains  us  up  by  degrees 
for  the  heavenly  world.  It  is  rough  discipline  indeed 
for  the  flesh,  but  it  is  wholesoire  for  tlie  soul.     And 


304  NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED. 

there  is  many  a  christian  here  on  earth  that  has  been 
made  to  confess,  he  had  never  learnt  the  practice  of 
some  of  these  virtues,  if  he  had  not  been  taught  by  such 
sort  of  discipline.  Pain  which  was  brought  into  human 
nature  at  first  by  sin,  is  happily  suited  by  the  providence 
of  God  to  such  a  state  of  probation,  wherein  creatures 
born  in  the  midst  of  sins  and  sorrows,  are  by  degrees 
recovered  to  the  love  of  God  and  holiness,  and  fi.tted  for 
a  world  of  peace  and  joy. 

But  when  we  have  done  with  this  world,  and  departed 
from  the  tribes  of  mortal  men,  and  from  all  the  scenes 
of  allurement  and  temptation,  there  is  no  more  need  that 
such  lessons  should  be  taught  us  in  heaven,  nor  any 
painful  scourge  made  use  of  by  the  Father  of  spirits,  to 
carry  on,  or  to  maintain  the  divine  work  of  holiness  and 
grace  Avithin  us.  Let  us  survey  this  matter  according 
to  the  foregoing  particulars. 

Is  it  possible  that  while  the  blessed  above  are  sur- 
rounded with  endless  satisfactions  flowing  from  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  they  should  forget  their 
benefactor,  and  neglect  his  irraises?  Is  it  possible  they 
should  dwell  in  immortal  health  and  ease  without  inter- 
ruption, under  the  constant  vital  influences  of  the  King 
of  Glory,  and  yet  want  gratitude  to  the  spring  of  all  their 
blessings  ? 

Nor  is  there  any  need  for  the  inhabitants  of  a  world 
where  no  pains  nor  sorrows  are  found,  to  learn  compas- 
sion and  sympathy  to  those  who  suffer,  for  there  are  no 
sufferings  there.  But  love  and  joy,  intense  and  intimate 
love,  and  a  harmony  of  joy  runs  through  all  that  blessed 
company,  and  unites  them  in  an  universal  sympathy,  if 
I  may  so  express  it,  or  blissful  sensation  of  each  other's 
happiness.  And  I  might  add  also,  could  there  be  such 
a  thing  as  sorrow  and  misery  in  those  regions,  this 
divine  principle  of  love  would  work  sweetly  and  pow- 
erfully towards  such  objects  in  all  necessary  compassion. 

What  if  pain  was  once  made  a  spur  to  our  duties  in 


I 


NO  PAIN  AMONG  THE  BLESSED.  S05 

this  frail  state  of  flesh  and  blood  ?  What  if  pain  were 
designed  as  a  guard  against  temptation,  and  a  means  to 
awaken  our  watch  against  new  transgression  and  guilt  ? 
But  in  a  climate  where  all  is  holiness,  and  all  is  peace, 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  great  God,  and  secured  by 
that  everlasting  covenant  which  was  sealed  by  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb,  there  is  no  more  danger  of  sinning.  The 
aoul  is  moulded  into  the  more  complete  likeness  of  Grod, 
by  living  for  ever  under  the  light  of  his  countenance  and 
the  warmest  beams  of  his  love. 

What  if  we  had  need  of  the  stings  of  pain  and  an- 
guish in  time  past,  to  wean  us  hy  degrees  from  this  body, 
and  from  all  sensible  things,  and  to  make  us  willing  to 
part  with  them  all  at  the  call  of  God  ?  Yet  when  we 
arrive  at  the  heavenly  world,  we  shall  have  no  more 
need  of  being  weaned  from  earth,  we  shall  never  look 
back  upon  that  state  of  pain  and  frailty  with  a  wishful 
eye,  being  for  ever  satisfied  in  theaffluenceof  present  joys. 

O  glorious  and  happy  state !  where  millions  of  crea- 
tures who  have  dwelt  in  bodies  of  sin  and  pain,  and 
have  been  guilty  of  innumerable  follies  and  oflfences 
against  their  Maker,  yet  they  are  all  forgiven,  their 
robes  are  washed  and  made  white  in  the  blood  of  Jesus, 
their  iniquities  are  cancelled  for  ever,  and  there  shall 
not  be  one  stroke  more  from  the  hand  of  God  to  chasten 
them,  nor  one  more  sensation  of  pain  to  punish  them. 
Divine  and  illustrious  privilege  indeed  !  and  a  glorious 
world,  where  complete  sanctification  of  all  the  powers  of 
nature  shall  for  ever  secure  us  from  new  sins,  and 
where  the  springs  and  causes  of  pain  shall  for  ever  cease, 
both  within  us  and  without  us.  Our  glorified  bodies 
shall  have  no  avenue  for  pain  to  enter ;  the  gates  of 
heaven  shall  admit  no  enemy  to  afflict  or  hurt  us  ;  God 
is  our  everlasting  friend,  and  our  souls  shall  be  satisfied 
with  the  rivers  of  pleasure  which  Jtoiv  for  ever  at  the 
right  hand  of  God.  Amen. 
39 


DISCOURSE  X. 


THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT;  OR, 
THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN. 

ROM.  viii.  23. 

And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also  who  have  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within 
ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  that  is,  the  re- 
demption of  the  body. 

SECTION  I. 

IT  is  by  a  beautiful  figure  of  speech  the  apostle  had 
been  describing,  in  the  foregoing  verses,  the  unnatural 
abuse  which  the  creatures  suffer  through  the  sins  of  men, 
when  they  are  employed  to  sinful  purposes  and  the  dis- 
honor of  Grod  their  Creator.  Permit  me  to  read  tlie 
words,  and  represent  the  sense  of  them  in  a  sliort  par- 
aphrase. Verse  22  ;  We  Jcnoiv  that  the  whole  creation 
groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now.  The 
earth  itself  may  be  represented  as  groaniyig  to  bear  such 
loads  of  iniquity,  such  a  multitude  of  wicked  men  who 
abuse  the  creatures  of  Ood,  to  the  dishonor  of  him  that 
made  them.  The  air  may  be  said  to  groan  to  give 
breath  to  those  vile  wretches  who  abuse  it  in  filthiness 
and  foolish  talking,  to  the  dishonor  of  God,  and  to  the 
scandal  of  their  neighbors  ;  it  groans  to  furnish  men 
with  breath  that  is  abused  in  idolatry,  by  tlie  false  wor- 
ship of  the  true  God,  or  the  worship  of  creatures,  which 
is  abominable  in  his  sight.  The  sun  itself  may  be  said 
to  groan  to  give  light  to  those  sinners  who  abuse  both 
day-light  and  darkness,  in  rioting  and  wantonness,  iu 


THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT,  &c.  307 

doing  mischief  among  men  and  committing  fresh  iniqui- 
ties against  their  Maker.  The  moon  and  stars  are 
abused  by  adulterers  and  thieves,  and  other  midniglit 
sinners,  when  they  any  way  afford  light  enough  to  them 
to  guide  them  in  their  pursuit  of  wicked  ways  and  prac- 
tices. The  beasts  of  burden  may  be  said  to  groan  and 
be  abused,  when  they  bear  the  wicked  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  Adam  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  iniquities. 
And  even  all  the  parts  of  the  brutal  world,  as  well  as  of 
the  inanimate  creation,  are  some  way  or  other  made  to 
serve  the  detestable  and  wicked  purposes  of  the  sinful 
children  of  men,  and  may  be  figuratively  said  to  groan 
on  this  account.  And  if  we  have  tasted  of  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  of  grace,  we  cannot  but  in  some  measure  groan 
with  the  rest  of  the  creation,  in  the  expectation  of  the 
blessed  day,  when  the  creatures  shall  be  delivered  from 
this  bondage  of  corruption,  to  which  the  providence  of 
God  has  suffered  them  to  be  subjected  in  this  degenerate 
state  of  things. 

We  hope  there  is  a  time  coming,  when  the  creatures 
themselves  shall  be  used  according  to  the  original  ap- 
pointment of  their  Maker,  agreeable  to  their  own  first 
design,  and  for  the  good  of  their  fellow-creatures,  and 
supremely  for  the  honor  of  their  God,  in  that  day  when 
holiness  to  the  Lord  shall  be  written  upon  the  bells  of  the 
horses;  and  every  pot  in  Jerusalem  shall  be  holiness  unto 
the  Lord  of  hosts.  Why  should  we  not  join  then  with 
the  whole  creation,  in  groaning  and  longing  after  this 
promised  time,  when  all  the  works  of  God  shall  be  re- 
stored to  their  rightful  use,  and  the  glory  of  the  Maker 
shall  some  way  or  other  be  made  to  shine  in  every  one 
of  them  ? 

The  apostle  then  adds,  in  the  Avords  of  my  text  and 

not  these  creatures  only,  but  ourselves  also,  ivho  have  the 

first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  we  who  are  filled  -vith  the  gifts 

and  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  eminently  the  first 


SOS  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF   THE  SPIRIT  ; 

fruits  hereof  appear  in  our  taste  and  relish  of  the  divine 
provisions  that  God  has  given  us  here  in  this  world,  to 
prepare  for  a  better  ;  and  even  bestows  upon  some  of  his 
christian  servants,  these  first  fruits  of  the  tree  of  paradise, 
these  blessings,  and  these  foretastes  which  are  near  akin 
to  those  of  the  upper  world,  when  the  saints  shall  be 
raised  from  the  dead,  when  their  adoption  shall  be  clearly 
manifested,  and  they  shall  look  like  the  children  of  God, 
and  their  bodies  and  all  their  natural  powers  shall  be 
redeemed  from  those  disorders,  whether  of  sin  or  sorrow, 
and  from  all  tlie  springs  and  seeds  of  them,  which  they 
are  more  or  less  liable  to  feel  in  the  present  state. 

Here  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  Jirst  fruits  of  any 
field,  or  plant,  or  tree,  are  of  the  same  kind  with  the  full 
product  or  the  harvest ;  therefore  it  is  plain,  that  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  in  this  place,  cannot  chiefly  signify 
the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  such  as  the  gifts  of  tongues,  or  of 
healing,  or  of  miracles,  nor  the  gifts  of  prophecy,  preach- 
ing, or  praying,  because  these  are  not  the  employments 
nor  the  enjoyments  of  heaven.  The  first  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  must  rather  refer  therefore,  to  the  knowledge  and 
holiness,  the  graces  and^^e  joys,  wliich  are  more  perfect 
and  glorious  in  the  heavenly  state,  than  they  were  ever 
designed  to  be  here  upon  earth.  Now  these  first  fruits 
of  graces  and  joys  are  sometimes  bestowed  upon  chris- 
tians in  this  world,  in  such  a  degree  as  brings  them  near 
to  the  heavenly  state.  And  that  is  the  chief  observation 
I  design  to  draw  from  these  words,  viz.  That  God  has 
heen  pleased  to  give  some  of  his  children  here  on  earthy 
several  of  the  foretastes  of  the  heavenly  blessedness,  the 
graces,  and  the  joys  of  the  upper  world  ;  as  they  are  the 
first  fruits  of  that  paradise  to  which  we  are  travelling. 
And  these  privileges  have  brought  some  of  the  saints 
within  the  verge  of  the  courts  of  heaven,  within  the  con- 
fines and  borders  of  the  celestial  country.     What  these 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.  309 

are  I  shall  shew  immediately  ;  but  before  I  represent 
them,  I  desire  to  lay  down  these  few  cautions. 

Caution  1.  These  sensible  foretastes  of  heaven  do  not 
belong  to^all  christians;  these  are  not  such  general 
blessings  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  of  which  every  chris- 
tian is  made  'partaker  ;  but  they  are  special  favors  now 
and  then  bestowed  on  some  particular  persons  by  the 
special  will  of  God.  1.  Such  as  are  more  eminent  in 
faith,  and  holiness,  and  prayer  than  others  are,  such  as 
have  made  great  advancements  in  every  part  of  religion, 
in  mortification  to  the  world,  in  spiritual  mindedness,  in 
humility,  and  in  much  converse  with  God,  &c.  Or,  2. 
Sometimes  these  first  fruits  may  be  given  unto  sucli  as 
are  weak,  both  in  reason  and  in  faith,  and  may  be  babes 
in  Christ,  and  are  not  able  by  their  reasoning  powers  to 
search  out  their  evidences  for  heaven,  especlnlly  under 
some  present  temptation  or  darkness.  Or,  3.  Sometimes 
to  those  who  are  called  by  providence  to  go  through 
huge  and  uncommon  trials  and  sufferings,  in  order  to 
support  their  spirits,  and  bear  up  their  coarage,  their 
faith  and  patience. 

It  is  true,  the  more  general  and  common  way  whereby 
God  prepares  his  people  for  heaven,  is  by  leading  them 
through  several  steps  of  advancing  holiness,  sincere  re- 
pentance, mortification  of  sin,  weanedness  from  the  world, 
likeness  to  God,  heavenly  mindedness,  &c.  These  are 
indeed  the  usual  preparatives  for  glory,  and  the  surest 
evidences  of  a  state  of  grace.  Tlierefore  let  not  any 
person  imagine  he  is  not  a  true  christian,  because  he 
hath  not  enjoyed  these  special  favors  and  signal  man- 
ifestations. 

Caution  2.  If  there  be  any  who  have  been  favored 
with  these  peculiar  blessings,  they  must  not  expect  them 
to  be  constant  and  perpetual,  nor  always  to  be  given  in 
the  same  manner  or  same  measure  ;  they  are  rare  bless- 
ings and   special  reviving  cordials  ;    they  are  not  the 


310  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT; 

common  food  of  christians,  nor  the  daily  nourishment  of 
the  saints.  The  word  of  God,  and  the  grace  of  Christ 
in  the  promises,  is  our  daily  support,  and  the  constant 
nourishment  of  our  souls.  Cordials  are  not  given  for 
our  daily  nourishment  in  the  life  of  grace. 

Caution  3.  However  great  and  rapturous  these  fore- 
tastes may  be,  let  us  not  so  depend  on  them  as  to  neglect 
the  more  substantial  and  solid  evidences  for  heaven,  and 
those  steps  of  preparation  which  I  have  elsewhere  men- 
tioned. Let  not  those  who  have  enjoyed  them  give  a 
loose  to  their  souls,  and  let  go  their  watchfulness,  or  neg- 
lect their  daily  mortification  and  diligence  in  every  duty. 
Some  of  these  divine  raptures  have  sometimes  been  so 
nearly  counterfeited  by  raptures  of  fancy,  by  warm  self- 
love,  or  perhaps  by  the  deceit  of  evil  angels,  that  they 
are  not  so  safe  a  foundation  for  our  dependance  and  as- 
sured hope,  as  the  soul's  experience  of  a  sincere  repent- 
ance, and  general  turn  of  heart  to  Cxod,  and  mortification 
of  sin,  and  delight  in  every  practice  of  holiness.  The 
devil  sometimes  has  transformed  himself  into  an  angel 
of  light  ;  2  Cor.  xi.  14.  And  there  have  been  some  who 
at  first  hearing  of  the  gospel,  have  had  wondrous  raptures. 
Heb.  vi.  4,  it  is  said  they  have  tasted  the  powers  of  the 
world  to  come,  &c. — who  have  yet  fallen  away  again  ; 
and  having  lost  all  their  sense  and  savor  of  divine  things, 
have  become  vile  apostates. 

Caution  4.  If  you  seem  to  enjoy  any  of  these  affection- 
ate and  rapturous  foretastes  of  heaven,  be  jealous  of  the 
truth  of  them,  if  they  have  not  a  proportionable  sanctify- 
ing influence  upon  your  souls  and  your  actions. 

If  you  find  they  incline  you  to  negligence  in  duty,  to 
coldness  in  the  common  practices  of  religion  and  godli- 
ness, if  they  make  you  fancy  that  common  ordinances  are 
a  low  and  needless  dispensation,  if  they  seem  to  excuse 
you  from  diligence  in  the  common  duties  of  life  towards 
man,  or  religion  towards  God,  there  is  great  reason  then 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OP  HEAVEN.  311 

to  suspect  them.  There  is  danger  lest  they  should  be 
mere  suggestions  and  deceitful  workings  either  of  your 
own  natural  passions,  or  the  crafty  snares  of  the  artful 
and  busy  adversary  of  souls,  on  purpose  to  make  you 
neglect  solid  religion,  and  make  you  part  with  what  is 
substantial  for  a  bright  and  flashy  glimpse  of  heavenly 
things. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  if  you  find  that  these  special 
favors  and  enjoyments  raise  your  hearts  to  a  greater 
nearness  to  God,  and  more  constant  converse  with  him  ; 
if  they  keep  you  deep  in  humility,  and  in  everlasting 
dependance  on  the  grace  of  Christ  in  the  gospel,  and 
warm  and  zealous  attendance  on  the  ordinances  of  wor- 
ship ;  if  they  teach  and  incline  you  to  fulfil  every  duty 
of  love  to  your  neighbor,  and  particularly  to  your  fellow- 
christians,  then  they  appear  to  be  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit ; 
and  as  they  fit  you  for  every  duty  and  every  providence 
here  upon  earth,  there  is  very  good  reason  to  hope  they 
are  real  visits  from  heaven,  and  are  sent  from  the  God  of 
all  grace  to  make  you  more  meet  for  the  heavenly  glory. 

SECTION  II. 

These  are  the  four  cautions.  I  proceed  now  to  de- 
scribe some  of  i\vQ.sQ  foretastes  of  the  heavenly  blessedness, 
and  shew  how  nearly  they  resemble  the  blessedness  and 
enjoyments  of  the  heavenly  world. 

First.  In  heaven  there  is  a  near  view  of  God  in  his 
glornes,  ivith  such  a  fixed  contemplation  of  his  several 
perfections,  as  draws  out  the  heart  into  all  correspondent 
exercises,  in  an  uncommon,  transcendent,  and  supreme 
degree.  It  is  described  as  one  of  the  felicities  of  heaven, 
that  we  shall  see  God ;  Matt.  v.  8 ;  that  we  shall  be- 
hold him  face  to  face,  and  not  in  shadows  and  glasses ; 
1  Cor.  xiii.  12.     Let  us  exhibit  some  particulars  of  this 


313  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT ; 

kind,  and  dwell  a  little  upon  them  in  the  most  easy  and 
natural  method. 

1.  In  heaven  tlie  blessed  inhabitants  behold  the  majesty 
and  greatness  of  God  in  such  a  light  as  fixes  their 
thoughts  in  glorious  wonder  and  the  humblest  adoration, 
and  exalts  them  to  the  highest  pleasure  and  praise.  Have 
you  never  fallen  into  such  a  devout  and  fixed  contempla- 
tion of  the  majesty  of  God,  as  to  be  even  astonished  at 
his  glory  and  greatness,  and  to  have  your  souls  so  swal- 
lowed up  in  his  sight,  that  all  the  sorrows  and  the  joys 
of  this  life,  all  the  business  and  necessities  of  it  liath 
been  forgotten  for  a  season,  all  things  below  and  beneath 
God  have  seemed  as  nothing  in  your  eyes  ?  All  the 
grandeurs  and  splendors  of  mortality  have  been  buried 
in  darkness  and  oblivion  ;  and  creatures  have,  as  it  were, 
vanished  from  the  tlioughts  and  been  lost,  as  the  stars 
die  and  vanish  at  the  rising  sun,  aud  are  no  more  seen  ? 
Have  you  never  seen  the  face  of  God  in  this  sublime 
grandeur,  excellence  and  majesty,  so  as  to  shrink  into 
the  dust  before  him,  and  lie  low  at  his  foot  with  humblest 
adoration?  And  you  have  been  transported  into  a  feeling 
acknowledgment  of  your  oAvn  nothingness  in  the  presence 
of  God.  Such  a  sight  the  prophet  Isaiah  seems  to  have 
enjoyed;  Isaiah  Ix.  12,  15,  17;  "Behold  the  nations 
before  him  are  as  the  drop  of  the  bucket,  and  as  the  small 
dust  of  the  balance ;  he  taketh  up  the  ^sles  as  a  very 
little  thing.  All  nations  before  him  are  as  nothing ;  they 
are  counted  to  him  less  than  nothing  and  vanity." 

When  the  lips  are  not  only  directed  to  speak  this  sub- 
lime language,  but  the  soul,  as  it  were,  beholds  God  in 
these  heights  of  transcendent  majesty,  it  is  overwhelmed 
with  blessed  wonder  and  surprising  delight,  even  while 
it  adores  in  most  profound  lowliness  and  self-abasement. 
This  is  tlie  emblem  of  the  worship  of  the  heavenly 
world  ;  see  Hev.  iv.  10.  where  the  elders,  saints  and 
prophets,  martyi's,  angels,  and  dominions,  and  principal- 


OR,  THE  PORETASTfi  OF  HEAVEN.         313 

ities  of  the  highest  degree  cast  down  their  crowns  at  the 
foot  of  him  that  made  them,  and  exalt  God  in  his  su- 
premacy over  all. 

2.  In  heaven  there  are  such  blessed  and  extensive 
surveys  of  the  infinite  knowledge  of  God,  and  his  amaz- 
ing wisdom  discovered  in  his  works^  as  makes  even  all 
their  own  heavenly  improvements  in  knowledge  and 
understanding  to  appear  as  mere  ignorance,  darkness, 
and  folly  before  him.  In  such  an  hour  as  this  is,  the 
lioly  angels  may  charge  themselves  with  folly  in  his 
sight,  as  he  beholds  them  in  the  imperfection  of  their 
understanding.  Now  have  you  never  been  carried  away 
in  your  meditations  of  the  all-comprehensive  knowledge 
of  God  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  lose  and  abandon  all 
your  former  pride  and  appearances  of  knowledge  and 
■wisdom  in  all  the  native  and  acquired  riches  of  it, 
and  count  them  all  as  nothing  in  his  sight  ?  Have  you 
never  looked  upward  to  the  midnight  skies,  and  with 
amazement  sent  your  thoughts  upward  to  him  who  calls 
all  the  stars  by  their  names,  and  brings  them  forth  in  all 
their  sparkling  glories,  who  marshals  them  in  their 
nightly  ranks  and  orders,  and  then  stood  overwhelmed 
with  sacred  astonishment  at  the  wisdom  which  made  and 
ranged  them  all  in  their  proper  situations,  and  there  ap- 
pointed them  to  fulfil  ten  thousand  useful  purposes,  and 
that  not  only  towards  this  little  ball  of  earth,  but  to  a 
multitude  of  upper  planetary  worlds  ?  Have  you  never 
inqured  into  the  wonders  of  his  wisdom  in  framing  the 
bodies,  the  limbs,  and  the  senses  of  millions  of  animals, 
birds,  and  beasts,  fishes,  and  insects,  as  well  as  men  all 
around  this  globe,  and  who  hath  framed  all  their  organs 
and  powers  of  nature  with  exquisite  skill,  to  see  and 
hear,  to  run  and  fly,  and  swim,  to  produce  their  young 
in  all  their  proper  forms  and  sizes,  furnished  with  their 
various  powers,  and  to  feed  and  nourish  them  in  their 
innumerable  shapes  and  colours,  admirable  for  strength 
40 


314*  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT; 

and  beauty?  And  have  you  not  felt  your  souls  filled 
with  devout  adoration  at  the  unspeakable  and  infinite 
contrivances  of  a  God  ? 

And  not  only  his  works  of  creation,  but  of  his  provi- 
dence too,  have  afforded  some  pious  souls  such  devout 
amazement.  What  astonishing  wisdom  must  that  be 
which  has  created  mankind  on  earth  near  six  thousand 
years  ago,  and  by  his  divine  word  in  every  age  continues 
to  create  them  or  give  them  being,  with  all  the  same 
natural  powers  and  parts,  beauties  and  excellencies ! 
That  he  hatli  wisely  governed  so  many  millions  of  ani- 
mals with  living  souls  or  spirits  in  them,  so  many  mil- 
lions of  intelligent  creatures,  endued  with  a  free  will  of 
their  own  to  choose  or  refuse  what  they  will  or  will  not 
do,  and  hath  managed  this  innumerable  company  of  be- 
ings in  all  ages,  notwithstanding  all  their  different  and 
clashing  opinions  and  customs,  their  crossing  humors, 
wills  and  passions  in  endless  variety,  and  yet  hath 
made  them  all  subservient  to  his  own  comprehensive 
designs  and  purposes  through  all  ages  of  the  word  and 
all  nations  on  earth  !  What  inconceivable  m  isdom  is 
that  which  hath  effectually  appointed  them  all  to  centre 
in  the  accomplishment  of  his  own  eternal  counsels  !  xind 
with  what  overwhelming  amazement  will  this  scene  ap- 
pear, when  he  shall  shut  up  the  theatre  of  this  eartii,  and 
fold  up  these  heavens  as  a  curtain,  and  this  visible 
structure  of  things  shall  be  laid  in  ashes  ?  What  an  as- 
tonishing view  must  this  be  of  the  all-surveying  knowl- 
edge, all-comprehending  wisdom  of  a  God,  and  with 
what  holy  and  humble  pleasure  must  the  pious  soul  be 
filled  who  takes  in  and  enjoys  this  scene  of  infinite  vari- 
eties and  wonders  ?  How  near  doth  sucli  an  hour  ap- 
proach  to  the  bliss  of  heaven  and  the  raptures  of  contem- 
plation, which  belong  to  the  blessed  inhabitants  of  it. 

3,  I  might  add  something  of  the  Mmighty  power  of 
God  in  his  creation  and  Government  of  the  world,  in  his 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.         3l5 

kingdottis  of  nature  and  providence.  Did  not  the  angels 
rejoice  at  the  birth  day  of  this  universe,  and  those  morn- 
ing stars  shout  for  joy  at  the  first  appearance  of  this 
creation  ?  And  what  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  make 
their  song,  may  not  a  holy  soul  be  entertained  with  it;, 
even  to  extacy  and  rapture  ?  I  behold,  says  he,  in  di- 
vine meditation,  I  behold  this  huge  structure  of  the  uni- 
verse rising  out  of  nothing  at  the  voice  of  his  command ; 
I  behold  tlie  several  planets  in  their  various  orders  set 
a  moving  by  the  same  word  of  power.  With  what 
delightful  surprise  do  1  hear  him  pronounce  the  words, 
let  there  be  light,  and  lo,  the  light  appears  P  Let  there 
be  earth  and  seas  ;  let  there  be  clouds  and  heavens  ;  let 
there  be  sun,  moon  and  stars,  and  lo  the  heavens,  and 
the  dry  land,  and  the  waters  appear,  the  clouds  and  the 
stars  in  their  various  order  and  situation,  and  all  the 
parts  of  the  creation  arise,  all  replenished  with  proper 
ornaments  and  animals  according  to  his  word.  At  his 
command  nature  exists  in  all  its  regions  with  all  its  fur- 
niture ;  the  beasts,  and  birds,  and  fishes  in  all  their 
forms  arise,  and  at  once  they  obey  the  several  Almighty 
orders  he  gave,  and  by  the  unknown  and  unconceivable 
force  of  such  a  word  they  leap  out  into  existence  in  ten 
thousand  forms. 

Again,  what  divine  pleasure  is  it  to  hear  a  God  be- 
ginning the  work  of  his  providence,  and  speaking  those 
wondrous  words  of  power  to  every  plant  and  animal,  be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  lo,  in 
a  long  succession  of  near  six  thousand  years  the  earth 
has  been  covered  all  over  with  herbs  and  plants,  with 
shrubs  and  tall  trees  in  all  their  beauty  and  dimensions. 
The  air  hath  been  filled  with  birds  and  insects,  the  seas 
and  rivers  with  fish,  and  the  dry  land  with  beasts  and 
men  even  to  this  present  day.  When  all  this  philosophy 
is  changed  into  devotion,  it  must  also  be  transformed 
into  divine  and  unutterable  joy. 


316  THE  FIRST  FilUlTS  OF   THE  SPIRIT; 

Nor  are  these  things  too  low  and  mean  for  the  con- 
templation of  heavenly  beings.  For  God  is  seen  in  all 
of  them.  There  is  not  a  spear  of  grass  but  the  power 
and  wisdom  of  a  God  are  visible  therein.  And  it  ie 
certain  the  heavenly  beings  must  be  sometimes  employ- 
ed in  tlie  contemplation  of  many  of  these  lower  wonders. 
The  plants  and  beasts  in  desolate  regions  where  no  man 
inhabits,  and  in  distant  and  foreign  oceans  and  rivers, 
where  the  fishy  shoals  in  all  their  variety  and  numbers, 
in  all  their  successions  and  generations  for  near  six 
thousand  years  were  never  seen  nor  known  by  any  of 
the  sons  of  men ;  these  seem  to  have  been  created  in 
vain,  if  no  heavenly  beings  are  acquainted  with  them, 
nor  raise  a  revenue  of  glory  to  him  that  made  them. 

This  Mmiglity  power  therefore  which  made  this  huge 
universe,  which  sustains  the  frame  of  it  every  moment, 
and  secures  it  from  dissolving ;  this  power  which  brings 
forth  the  stars  in  their  order,  and  worms  a,nd  creeping 
things  in  their  innumerable  millions,  and  governs  all 
the  motions  of  them  to  the  purposes  of  divine  glory, 
must  needs  affect  a  contemplative  soul  with  raptures  of 
pleasing  meditation  ;  and  in  these  sublime  meditations, 
by  the  aids  of  the  divine  Spirit,  a  soul  on  earth  may  get 
near  to  heaven.  And  with  what  religious  and  unknown 
pleasure  at  such  a  season  doth  it  shrink  its  own  being 
as  it  were  into  an  atom,  and  lie  in  the  dust  and  adore  ! 

4.  The  all-sufficiency  of  the  great  God  to  form  and  to 
supply  every  creature  with  all  that  it  can  want  or  desire, 
is  another  perfection  of  the  divine  nature,  whicli  is  bet- 
ter known  in  heaven  than  it  ever  was  here  on  earth,  and 
affords  another  scene  of  astonishment  and  sacred  delight. 
And  there  may  be  some  advances  towards  this  pleasure 
found  among  saints  below,  some  first  fruits  of  this  heav- 
enly felicity  and  joy  in  the  all-sufficiency  of  God. 

My  whole  self,  body  and  mind,  is  from  God  and 
from  him  alone.     All  my  limbs  and  powers  of  flesh  and 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.  317 

spirit  were  derived  from  him,  and  borrowed  their  first 
existence  from  tlieir  original  .pattern  in  his  fruitful  mind. 
All  that  I  have  of  lite  or  comfort,  of  breath  or  being, 
with  all  my  blessings  round  about  me,  is  owing  to  his 
boundless  and  eternal  fullness  ;  and  all  my  long  reach- 
ing hopes  and  endless  expectations  that  stretch  far  into 
futurity,  and  an  eternal  world,  are  growing  out  of  this 
same  all-sufficient  fullness. 

But  what  do  I  think  or  speak  of  so  little  a  trifle  as  I 
am  ?  Stretch  thy  thoughts,  O  my  soul,  through  the 
lengths  and  breadths,  and  depth  of  his  creation,  O  what 
an  unconceivable  fulness  of  being,  glory,  and  excellency 
is  found  in  God  the  universal  parent  and  spring  of  all  ! 
What  an  inexhaustible  ocean  of  being  and  life,  or  per- 
fection and  blessedness  must  our  God  be,  who  supplies 
all  the  iniinite  armies  of  his  creatures  in  all  his  known, 
and  unknown  dominions  with  life  and  motion,  with 
breath  and  activity,  with  food  and  support,  with  satisfac- 
tion and  delight !  Who  maintains  the  vital  powers  and 
faculties  of  all  the  spirits  which  he  hath  made  in  all  the 
visible  and  invisible  worlds,  in  all  his  territories  of 
light,  and  peace,  and  joy,  and  in  all  the  regions  of  dark- 
ness, punishment  and  misery!  In  him  all  things  live, 
and  move,  and  have  tlieir  beings  ;  Acts  xvii.  28.  Psalms 
civ.  29 ;  He  withdraws  his  breath  and  they  die.  He 
hath  writ  down  all  their  names  in  his  own  mind,  he  gives 
them  all  their  natures,  and  without  him  there  is  nothing, 
there  can  be  nothing ;  all  nature  without  him  would  have 
been  a  perpetual  blank,  an  universal  emptiness,  an  ever- 
lasting void,  and  with  one  turn  of  his  will  he  could  sink 
and  dissolve  all  nature  into  its  original  nothing. 

Confess,  O  my  soul,  thy  own  nothingness  in  his  pres- 
ence, and  with  astonishing  pleasure  and  worship  adore 
his  fulness.  He  is  thy  everlasting  all.  Be  thy  depend- 
ance  ever  fixed  upon  him ;  thou  canst  not,  thou  shalt  not 
live  a  moment  without  him,  without  ids  habitual  depend- 


318  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT; 

aiice,  and  a  frequent  delightful  acknowledgement  of  it. 
Such  a  devout  frame  as  this,  is  heaven,  and  such  scenes 
now  and  then  passing  tlirough  the  soul,  are  glimpses 
of  the  heavenly  blessedness. 

SECTION  III. 

Though  the  eternity  and  bnmensitij  of  God  might 
perhaps,  in  their  own  nature,  and  in  the  reason  of  things, 
be  first  mentioned,  yet  his  majesty,  his  power,  and  liis 
wisdom,  in  their  sovereign  excellency  strike  the  souls  of 
creatures  more  immediately,  therefore  I  have  put  these 
first.  However,  let  us  now  consider  the  eternity  of  the 
gl'eat  God  and  his  omnipresence,  and  tijink  how  the 
spirits  in  heaven  are  affected  therewith,  and  what  kin- 
dred meditations  may  be  derived  from  these  perfections 
by  the  saints  here  on  earth.     I  proceed  therefore, 

5.  To  the  eternity  of  God,  which,  though  the  most 
exalted  spirit  in  heaven  cannot  comprehend,  yet  it  is 
probable  they  have  some  nearer  and  clearer  discovery 
of  it  than  we  can  have  here  in  this  mortal  state,  while 
we  dwell  in  flesh  and  blood.  We  have  nothing  in  this 
risible  world  that  gives  us  so  much  as  an  example  or 
similitude  of  it.  The  great  God  ivho  is,  ivho  was,  and 
who  is  to  come  through  all  ages,  he  is,  and  was,  and  for 
ever  icill  be  the  same.  Let  us  go  back  as  many  thou- 
sand ages  as  we  can  in  our  thoughts,  and  still  an  eternal 
God  was  before  them ;  a  Being  that  had  no  beginning 
of  his  existence,  nor  will  have  any  end  of  his  life  or  du- 
ration. And  as  he  says  to  Moses,  my  name  is  I  am 
THAT  I  AM,  so  as  there  is  nothing  which  had  any  hand 
in  his  being,  but  all  the  reasons  of  it  are  derived  from 
his  own  self-fulness,  therefore  we  may  say  of  him  that 
he  is  because  he  is,  and  because  he  will  be.  He  had  no 
spring  of  his  first  beginning,  nor  any  cause  of  his  con- 
tinued existence,  but  what  is  within  himself.     We  can 


OR,   THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN,  319 

never  set  ourselves  in  too  mean  a  light,  when  an  eternal 
God  is  near  us  ;  and  every  thing  besides  God  can  be  but 
little  in  our  eyes. 

And,  O  my  thinking  powers,  are  ye  not  sweetly  lost 
in  this  holy  rapture,  and  overpowered  with  divine  pleas- 
ure, O  my  soul,  in  such  a  medtiation  as  this  ?  Art  thou 
not  delightfully  surprised  ^vith  the  thoughts  of  such  self- 
sufficience  and  such  an  inconceivable  perfection  ?  Thy 
being  considered  as  here  in  this  life,  is  not  so  much  in 
the  sight  of  God,  as  an  atom  in  comparison  of  the  whole 
earth ;  and  even  the  supposed  future  ages  of  thy  existence 
in  the  eternal  state,  are  inconceivably  short,  when  com- 
pared with  the  glory  of  that  Being  that  never  began  his 
life  or  his  duration. 

Many  things  here  on  earth  concur  towards  my  satis- 
faction and  peace  ;  but  if  I  have  God  my  friend,  I  have 
all  in  him  that  I  can  possibly  want  or  desire.  Let  me. 
then  live  no  longer  upon  creatures  when  God  is  all. 

Let  sun,  moon,  and  stars  vanish,  and  all  this  visible 
creation  disappear  and  be  for  ever  annihilated  if  God 
please,  he  himself  is  still  my  eternal  hope  and  never- 
failing  spring  of  all  my  blessedness.  My  expectations 
are  continually  safe  in  liis  hands,  and  shall  never  fail 
while  I  am  so  near  to  him.  This  is  joy  unspeakable 
and  akin  to  glory. 

6.  Let  us  meditate  also  on  the  immensity  of  God, 
which  I  think  is  much  better  expressed  by  his  omni- 
presence. God  is  wheresoever  any  creature  is  or  can 
be  ;  knowing  immediately  by  his  own  presence  all  that 
belongs  to  them,  all  that  they  are  or  can  be,  all  that  they 
do  or  can  do,  all  that  concerns  tliem,  whetlier  their  sins 
or  their  virtues,  their  pains  or  their  pleasures,  their 
hopes  or  their  fears.  It  implies  also  that  he  doth  by  his 
immediate  power  and  influence,  support  and  govern  all 
the  creatures.  In  short,  this  immensity  is  nothing  else 
but  the  infinite  extent  of  his  knowledge  and  iiis  power ; 


320  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT  ; 

and  it  reaches  to  and  beyond  all  places,  as  eternity 
reaches  to  and  beyond  all  times.  This  the  blessed 
above  know  and  rejoice  in,  and  take  infinite  satisfaction 
therein.  Having  God,  as  it  were,  surrounding  them  on 
all  sides,  so  that  they  cannot  be  where  he  is  not,  he  is 
ever  present  with  liis  all-sufficiency,  ready  to  bestow  on 
them  all  they  wish  or  desire,  while  he  continues  their 
God  ;  that  is,  for  ever  and  ever.  They  are  under  the 
blessing  of  his  eye,  and  the  care  of  his  hand,  to  guard 
them  from  every  evil,  and  to  secure  their  ])eace. 

Let  thy  flesh  or  spirit  be  surrounded  with  ever  so 
many  thousand  dangers  or  enemies,  they  cannot  do  thee 
the  least  damage  without  his  leave,  by  force  or  by  sur 
prise,  while  sucli  an  Almighty  Being  is  all  around  thee. 
Nor  hast  thou  reason  to  indulge  any  fear  while  the 
spring  and  ocean  of  all  life,  activity,  and  blessedness, 
thus  secures  thee  on  every  side.  If  thou  hast  the  evi- 
dences of  his  children  on  thee,  thou  possessest  an  eter- 
nal security  of  thy  peace. 

7.  The  sovereignty  and  dominion  of  the  blessed  God 
is  a  further  meditation  and  pleasure  which  becomes  and 
adorns  the  inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  world.  There 
he  reigns  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory ;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  territories  whicli  are  subject  to  him,  are  less 
in  their  view  than  our  scanty  powers  of  nature  or  per- 
ception can  now  apprehend  ;  and  a  proportionable  de- 
gree of  pleasure  is  found  with  the  saints  above  in  these 
contemplations. 

But  in  our  present  state  of  mortality,  our  souls  can 
only  look  through  these  lattices  of  flesh  and  blood,  and 
make  a  few  scanty  and  imperfect  inferences  from  what 
they  always  see,  and  hear,  and  feel.  And  yet  the  glo- 
rious sovereignty  and  dominion  of  the  blessed  God  may 
so  penetrate  the  soul  with  a  divine  sense  of  it  here  on 
earth,  as  to  raise  up  a  heaven  of  wonder  and  joy 
within. 


r 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.  S2i 

Adore  him,  O  my  soul,  who  surveys  and  rules  all 
things  which  he  has  made  with  an  absolute  authority, 
and  is  for  ever  uncontrolable.  How  righteous  a  thing  is 
it  that  he  should  give  laws  to  all  the  beings  which  his 
hand  hath  formed,  which  his  breath  hath  spoken  into 
life,  and  especially  that  rank  which  his  favor  hath  fur- 
nished with  immortality?  How  just  that  he  should  be 
obeyed  by  every  creature  without  the  least  reluctance  or 
reserve,  without  a  moment's  delay,  and  that  to  all  the 
length  of  tlieir  existence  ? 

Submit  to  his  government  with  pleasure,  O  my  nature, 
and  be  all  ye  my  powers  of  soul  and  body,  in  everlast- 
ing readiness  to  do  whatsoever  he  requires,  and  to  be 
whatsoever  he  appoints.  Wilt  thou  have  me,  O  Lord, 
lie  under  sickness  or  pain,  wilt  thou  have  me  languish 
under  weakness  and  confinement  ?  I  am  at  thy  foot,  I 
am  for  ever  at  thy  disposal.  Wilt  thou  have  me  active 
and  vigorous  in  thy  service  ?  Lord,  I  am  ready  with 
utmost  cheerfulness.  Wilt  thou  confine  me  to  painful 
idleness  and  long  patience  ?  Lord,  here  I  am  ;  do  with 
me  what  seemeth  good  unto  thee  ;  I  am  ready  to  serve 
thy  purposes  here,  or  thy  orders  in  the  unknown  world 
of  spirits,  when  thou  shalt  dissolve  this  mortal  frame. 
I  lay  down  these  limbs  in  the  dust  of  death  at  thy  com- 
mand. I  venture  into  the  regions  of  angels  and  unbod- 
ied minds  at  thy  summons.  I  will  be  what  thou  wilt,  I 
will  go  when  thou  wilt,  I  will  dwell  where  thou  wilt, 
for  thou  art  always  with  me,  and  I  am  entirely  thine. 
I  both  rejoice  and  tremble  at  thy  sovereignty  and  domin- 
ion over  all.  God  cannot  do  injury  to  any  creature  who 
is  so  entirely  his  own  property ;  God  will  not  deal  un- 
kindly with  a  creature  who  is  so  sensible  of  his  just 
dominion  and  supremacy,  and  which  bows  at  the  foot  of 
his  sovereignty  with  so  much  relish  of  satisfaction. 

8.  Let  us  next  take  notice  of  the  j^crfect  purity  of  the 
nature  of  God,  liis  universal  holiness,  the  rectitude  of 
41 


S22  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT  ; 

the  divine  nature  manifested  in  all  his  tlioaghts,  his 
works,  and  his  words,  all  perfectly  agreeable  to  the 
eternal  rules  of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  at  the  fur- 
thest distance  Trom  every  thing  that  is  false  and  faulty, 
every  thing  that  is  or  can  be  dishonorable  to  so  glorious 
a. Being.  Have  we  never  seen  Grod  in  this  light,  in  the 
glory  of  his  holiness,  his  universal  rectitude,  and  the 
everlasting  harmony  of  all  his  perfections,  in  exact  cor- 
respondence with  all  the  notions  we  can  have  of  truth 
and  reason  ?  And  has  not  God  appeared  then  as  a  glo- 
rious and  lovely  Being?  And  have  we  not  at  the  same 
time  beheld  ourselves  as  unclean  and  unholy  creatures  ; 
in  one  part  or  other  of  our  natures,  ever  ready  to  jar  or 
fall  out  with  some  of  the  most  pure  and  perfect  rules  of 
holiness,  justice  or  truth  ?  Have  we  not  seen  all  our 
sins  and  iniquities  in  this  light,  with  utmost  abhorrence 
and  highest  hatred  of  them,  and  looked  down  upon  our- 
selves with  a  deep  and  overwhelming  sense  of  shame 
and  displacence  against  our  depraved  a,od  corrupted  na- 
tures, and  abased  ourselves  as  Job  does,  in  diist  and 
ashes,  and  not  daring  to  open  our  mouths  before  him  ? 
Job.  xiii.  6  ;  1  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearins;  of  the 
ear,  but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee,  ayid  I  abhor  myself  iyi 
dust  and  ashes.  The  least  spot  or  blemish  of  sin  grows 
highly  offensive  and  painful  to  the  eyes  of  a  saint  in  this 
situation. 

Every  little  warping  from  truth  in  our  conversation, 
every  degree  of  insincerity  or  fraud  becomes  a  smarting 
uneasiness  to  the  mind  in  the  remembrance  of  oiu*  past 
follies  in  the  present  state.  There  is  the  highest  abhor- 
rence of  sin  among  all  the  heavenly  inhabitants  ;  and 
this  sight  of  God  in  the  beauties  of  his  holiness,  and  his 
perfect  rectitude,  is  an  everlasting  preservative  to  holy 
souls  against  the  admission  of  an  impure  or  uniioly 
thought.  And  therefore  some  divines  have  supposed, 
that  the  angels  at  their  first  creation  were  put  into  a  state 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.  3S8 

of  trial  before  they  were  admitted  to  this  full  sight  of  the 
beauty  of  God  in  his  holiness,  which  would  have  secured 
them  from  the  least  thought  or  step  towards  apostacy. 

O  my  soul,  of  what  happy  importance  is  it  to  thee  to 
maintain  as  long  as  possible,  this  sense  of  the  purity^ 
rectitude  and  perfection  of  the  nature  of  the  blessed 
God,  wlio  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity,  with 
the  least  regard  of  approbation  or  allowance?  And 
what  infinite  condescension  is  it  in  such  a  God  to  find 
out  and  appoint  a  way  of  grace,  whereby  such  shameful, 
polluted  creatures  as  we  are,  should  ever  be  admitted 
into  his  presence  to  make  the  least  address  to  his  majesty, 
or  to  hope  for  his  favor  ? 

Besides,  in  this  sublime  view  of  the  holiness  of  God, 
we  shall  not  only  love  God  better  than  ever,  as  we  see 
him  more  amiable  under  this  view  of  his  glorious  attri- 
butes, but  we  shall  grow  more  sincere  and  fervent  in  our 
love  to  all  that  is  holy,  to  every  fellow-christian,  to  every 
saint  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  We  shall  not  bear  any 
fstrangedness  or  alienation  from  those  who  have  so 
much  of  the  likeness  of  God  in  them.  They  will  ever 
appear  to  be  the  excellent  of  the  earth,  in  whom  is  all 
our  delight.  Their  supposed  blemishes  will  vanish  at 
the  thought  of  their  likeness  to  God  in  holiness.  And 
especially  our  blessed  Lord  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  will 
be  most  precious  and  all-glorious  in  our  eyes,  as  he  is 
the  most  perfect  image  of  his  Father's  holiness.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  blessed  God,  but  the  man  Christ  Jesus 
bears  a  proportionable  resemblance  to  it,  as  far  as  a  crea- 
ture can  resemble  God,  and  he  will  consequently  be 
Jiighest  in  our  esteem,  under  God  the  Lord  and  Father 
of  all. 

9.  The  ever  pleasing  attribute  of  divine  goodness  and 
love,  is  another  endless  and  joyful  theme  or  object  of 
the  contemplation  of  the  heavenly  world.  There  this 
perfection  shines  in  its  brightest  rays ;  there  it  display^t 


S^  THE  URST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT ; 

its  most  triumphant  glories,  and  kindles  a  flame  of  ever- 
lasting joy  in  all  the  sons  of  blessedness. 

But  we  in  this  world  may  have  such  glimpses  of  this 
goodness  and  love.,  as  may  fill  tlie  soul  with  unspeakable 
pleasure,  and  begin  in  it  the  first  fruits  and  earnest  of 
heaven.  When  we  survey  the  inexhaustible  ocean  of 
goodness  which  is  in  God,  which  fills  and  supplies  all 
the  creatures  with  every  thing  they  stand  in  need  of ; 
when  we  behold  all  the  tribes  of  the  sons  of  men  sup- 
ported by  his  boundless  sufficiency,  his  bounty  and  kind 
providence,  and  refreshed  with  a  thousand  comforts  be- 
yond what  the  mere  necessities  of  nature  require  ;  in 
such  an  hour  if  we  feel  the  least  flowings  of  goodness  in 
ourselves  towards  others,  we  shall  humble  ourselves  to 
the  dust,  and  cry  out  in  lioly  amazement.  Lord,  what  is 
an  atom  to  a  mountain  ?  What  is  a  drop  to  a  river,  a 
sea  of  benificence  ?  Wkat  is  a  shadow  to  the  eternal 
substance  ?  What  good  thing  is  there  in  time  or  in  eter- 
nity, which  I  can  possibly  want  which  is  not  abundantly 
i^pplied  out  of  thine  overflowing  fulness  ?  Hence  arises 
the  eternal  satisfaction  of  all  the  lioly  and  happy  creation 
in  being  so  near  to  thee,  and  under  the  everlasting  as- 
surances of  thy  love.  I  can  do  nothing  but  fall  down 
before  thee  in  deepest  humility,  and  admire,  adore,  and 
everlastingly  love  thee,  who  hast  assumed  to  thyself  the 
name  of  love;  1  John  iv.  8  ;  God  is  love. 

SECTION  IV. 

Thus  far  our  joys  may  rise  into  aii  imitation  of  the 
ioys  above,  in  the  devout  contemplation  of  divine  per- 
Hions. 
nd  not  only  the  jjerfectioyis  of  God  considered  and 
'^d  single  in  themselves,  but  the  union  and  blessed 
of  many  of  them  in  the  divine  works  and  trans- 
providence  and  of  grace,  especially  in  the  gos- 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OP  HEAVEN.         325 

pel  of  Christ,  administer  further  matter  for  contemplation 
and  pleasure  among  the  happy  spirits  in  heaven.  And 
so  far  as  this  enjoyment  may  be  communicated  to  the 
saints  here  on  earth,  they  may  be  also  said  to  have  a 
foretaste  of  the  business  and  pleasure  of  heaven.  Let 
us  take  notice  of  this  harmony  in  several  instances. 

1.  In  the  sacred  constitution  of  the  person  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  as  God  and  man  united  in  one  personal 
agent.  Here  majesty  and  mercy  give  a  glorious  instance 
oT  their  union ;  here  all  the  grantleur  and  dignity  of 
Godhead  condescends  to  join  itself  in  union  with  a  crea- 
ture, such  as  man  is,  a  spirit  dwelling  in  iiesh  and  blood. 
1  Tim.  ii.  5  ;  There  is  one  God,  and  one  Mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man,  even  the  mq^n  Christ  Jesus.  But 
this  man  is  personally  united  to  the  blessed  God  ;  he  is 
God  manifested  in  the  jlesh.  He  is  a  man  in  ivhom 
dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  to  constitute 
one  all-suiiicient  Saviour  of  miserable  and  fallen  man- 
kind. What  an  amazing  stoop  or  condescension  is  this 
for  the  eternal  Godhead  thus  to  join  itself  to  a  creature, 
and  what  a  siu-prising  exaltation  is  this  of  the  creature 
for  the  man  Christ  Jesus  thus  to  be  assumed  into  so  near 
a  relation  to  the  blessed  God  ?  All  the  glories  that  re- 
sult from  this  divine  contrivance  and  transaction,  are  not 
to  be  enumerated  on  paper,  nor  by  the  best  capacity 
of  writers  here  on  earth.  The  heavenly  inhabitants  are 
much  better  acquainted  with  them. 

Again.  Here  is  an  example  of  the  harmony  and  co- 
operation of  unsearchable  wisdom  and  all- commanding 
power,  in  the  person  of  the  blessed  Jesus ;  and  what  a 
happy  design  is  hereby  executed,  namely,  the  reconcil- 
iation of  sinful  man  and  the  holy  and  glorious  God. 
And  who  could  do  this  but  one  who  was  possessed  of 
such  wisdom  and  such  power  ?  When  there  was  no 
creature  in  heaven  or  earth  sufficient  for  this  work,  God 
was  pleased  to  appoint  such  au  union  between  a  creature 


3S6  THfi  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT; 

and  Creator,  between  God  and  man,  as  might  answer  all 
the  inconceivable  purposes  concealed  in  his  thought.  If 
there  be  wanting  a  person  fit  to  execute  any  of  his  infinite 
designs,  lie  will  not  be  frustrated  for  want  of  an  agent ; 
he  will  appoint  God  and  man  to  be  so  nearly  united  as 
to  become  one  agent  to  execute  this  design. 

3.  In  the  manner  of  our  salvation,  viz.  by  an  atone- 
ment for  sin.  The  great  God  did  not  think  it  proper, 
nor  agreeable  to  his  sublime  holiness,  to  receive  sinful 
man  into  his  favor  without  an  atonement  for  sin,  and  a 
satisfaction  made  to  the  Governor  of  the  world  for  the 
abuse  and  violation  of  his  holy  law  here  on  earth ;  and 
therefore  he  appointed  such  a  sacrifice  of  atonement  as 
might  be  sufficient  to  do  complete  honor  to  the  law-giver, 
as  well  as  to  save  and  deliver  the  offender  from  death. 
Therefore  Jesus  was  made  a  man  capable  of  suffering 
and  dying,  that  he  might  honor  the  majesty  and  the  jus- 
tice of  the  broken  law  of  God,  and  that  he  might  do  it 
completely  by  the  union  of  Godhead  to  this  man  and 
Mediator ;  the  dignity  of  whose  divinity  diffuses  itself 
over  all  that  he  did  and  all  that  he  suffered,  so  as  to 
make  his  obedience  completely  acceptable  to  God  instead 
of  thousands  of  creatures,  and  fully  satisfactory  for  the 
offence  that  was  given  him  by  them ;  here  is  a  sacrifice 
provided  equal  to  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  therefore  sufficient 
to  take  it  away. 

You  see  here  what  a  blessed  harmony  there  is  between 
the  justice  of  God  doing  honor  to  his  own  law,  and  his 
compassion  resolved  to  save  a  ruined  creature.  Here  is 
no  blemish  cast  upon  the  strict  justice  and  righteousness 
of  God,  when  the  offender  is  forgiven  in  such  a  method 
as  may  do  honor  to  justice  and  mercy  at  once.  Rom.  iii. 
24,  25 ;  We  are  justified  freely  by  his  grace  through  the 
redemption  that  is  in  Jesus  Christ ;  whom  God  hath  set 
forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood,  to 
declare  Ms  righteousness^  even   his  perfect  governing 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVfiN.  327 

justice^  though  he  passes  by  and  pardons  tlie  sins  of  a 
thousand  criminal  creatures.  To  declare,  I  say,  at  this 
time  his  righteousness,  that  he  might  appear  to  be  just  to 
his  own  authority  and  law,  while  he  justifies  the  sinful 
man  who  believeth  or  trusteth  in  Jesus  the  Mediator,  as 
becoming  a  proper  sacrifice  and  propitiation  for  sin. 

3.  By  the  sa7ictiflcation  of  our'  nature.  There  is  also 
another  remarkable  harmony  between  the  holiness  of 
God,  and  his  mercy  in  this  work  of  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ful man.  The  guilt  of  sin  is  not  only  to  be  forgiven  and 
taken  away  by  a  complete  atonement  and  sacrifice,  but 
the  sin  fid  nature  of  this  ruined  creature  is  to  be  changed 
into  holiness,  is  to  be  renewed  and  sanctified  by  the 
blessed  Spirit,  and  reformed  into  the  image  of  God  his 
Maker.  He  must  not  only  be  released  from  punishment 
by  forgiveness,  but  he  must  be  restored  to  the  image  of 
God  by  sanctifying  grace ;  that  so  he  may  be  fit  company 
for  the  rest  of  the  favorites  of  God  in  the  upper  world ; 
that  he  may  be  qualified  to  be  admitted  into  this  society, 
where  peifect  purity  and  holiness  are  necessary  for  all 
tlie  inhabitants  of  this  upper  world,  and  for  such  near 
attendants  on  the  blessed  God.  In  that  happy  state 
nothing  shall  enter  there  that  defileth ;  Rev.  xxi.  27 ; 
and  therefore  concerning  the  criminals  amongst  the 
Corinthians,  as  vile  and  as  offensive  to  the  pure  an  holy 
God  as  they  are  represented,  1  Cor.  vi.  9 — 11  ;  viz.  For- 
nicators, idolaters,  adulterers,  drunkards,  8^c.  but  it  is 
said,  they  are  washed,  hut  they  are  sanctified,  but  they 
are  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the 
Spirit  of  our  God. 

Now  when  the  souls  of  the  saints  here  on  earth  are 
raised  to  such  divine  contemplations,  what  transporting 
satisfaction  and  delight  must  arise  from  the  surprising 
union  and  harmony  of  the  attributes  of  the  bles;  >ed  God 
in  these  his  transactions  ?  And  especially  when  ithe  soul 
in  the  lively  exercise  of  grace  and  view  of  its  ovjxi  par- 


SS8  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF   THE  SPIRIT ; 

don,  justification^  and  restored  holiness,  looks  upon  itself 
as  one  of  these  happy  favorites  of  the  majesty  of  heaven. 
It  cries  out  as  it  w^ere  in  holy  amazement,  what  a  divine 
profusion  is  here  of  wisdom  and  power,  glory  and  grace, 
to  save  a  wretched  worm  from  everlasting  burnings,  and 
to  advance  a  worthless  rebel  to  such  undeserved  and 
exalted  glories ! 

SECTION  V. 

The  wonders  of  divine  jjerfectio7is  united  in  the  suc- 
cess of  the  gospeU  give  an  ecstacy  of  joy  sometimes  to 
holy  souls.  Not  only  do  these  views  of  the  united  per- 
fections of  Grod,  as  they  are  concerned  in  the  contrivance 
of  the  gospel,  entertain  the  saints  above  Avith  new  and 
pleasurable  contemplations,  but  the  wonders  of  divine 
wisdom,  power  and  grace,  united  and  harmonizing  in  the 
propai^'ation  and  success  of  this  gospel,  become  a  matter 
of  delightful  attention  and  survey  to  the  saints  on  high. 

This  is  imitated  also  in  a  measure  by  the  children  of 
God  here  on  earth.  Have  you  never  felt  such  a  surpris- 
ing pleasure  in  the  view  of  the  attributes  of  God,  his 
grace,  wisdom,  and  power,  in  making  these  divine  de- 
signs so  happily  efficacious  for  the  good  of  thousands  of 
souls  ?  If  there  be  joy  in  heaven  amon^  the  angels  of 
God,  at  the  conversion  of  a  sinner,  what  perpetual  mes- 
>>ages  of  unknown  satisfaction  and  delight  did  the  daily 
and  constant  labors  of  the  blessed  apostle  Paul  send  to 
the  upper  w  orld  ?  What  perpetual  tidings  were  carried 
to  the  worlds  on  high  of  such  an:l  such  souls,  converted 
unto  Gof'i  from  gross  idolatry,  from  the  worship  of  dumb 
idols,  from  the  vain  superstition  of  their  heroes  and  me- 
diator-g  ods,  and  from  the  impure  and  bloody  sacrifices  of 
their  ov  tn  countrymen,  whereby  they  intended  to  satisfy 
their  g(  jds  for  their  own  iniquities,  and  to  reconcile  them- 
selves   to  these  invented  gods,  these  dsemons  or  devils 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.         3S9 

which  were  deified  by  the  folly  and  madness  of  sin- 
ful men  ?  What  new  hallelujahs  must  it  put  into  the 
mouths  of  the  saints  and  angels  on  high,  to  see  the  true 
and  living  God  worshipped  by  thousands  that  had  never 
before  known  him,  and  to  see  Jesus  the  Mediator  in  all 
the  glories  of  his  divine  offices  admired  and  adored  by 
those  who  lately  had  either  known  nothing  of  him,  or 
been  shameful  revilers  and  blasphemers  of  his  majesty. 

And  what  an  unknown  delight  is  diffused  through 
many  of  the  saints  of  God  now  here  on  earth  upon  such 
tidings,  not  only  from  the  foreign  and  heathen  countries, 
but  even  some  that  have  professed  Christianity,  but  un- 
der gross  mistakes  and  miserable  fogs  of  darkness  and 
superstition  ?  What  an  inconceivable  and  overwhelm- 
ing pleasure  has  surprised  a  christian  sometimes  in  the 
midst  of  his  zealous  worship  of  God  and  his  Saviour, 
to  hear  of  such  tidings  of  new  subjects  in  multitudes 
submitting  themselves  to  their  divine  dominion? 

And  even  in  our  day,  whensoever  we  hear  of  the  work 
of  grace  begun  by  the  ministry  of  the  word  awakening  a 
drowsy  and  lethargic  soul  from  its  dangerous  sleep  on 
the  brink  of  hell,  rousing  a  negligent  and  slothful  crea- 
ture from  his  indolence  and  carelessness  about  the 
things  of  eternity  ;  or  again,  in  making  a  heart  soft  and 
impi'essive  to  the  powers  of  divine  grace,  which  was  be- 
fore hard  as  the  nether  millstone ;  and  especially  when 
multitudes  of  these  tidings  come  together  from  distant 
places,  as  of  late  we  have  heard  from  J^ew- England^ 
and  several  of  those  plantations,  from  Scotland  and 
several  of  her  assemblies,  what  additional  scenes  of 
heavenly  joy  and  pleasure  have  been  raised  amongst 
the  pious  souls,  both  those  who  relate  and  those  who 
hear  them. 

42 


330  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT; 

SECTION  VI. 

Fortastes  of  heaven  are  sometimes  derived  from  the 
overflowing  sense  of  the  love  of  God  let  in  upon  the  soul. 

The  spirits  above  who  are  surrounded  with  this  bles- 
sedness and  this  love,  and  rejoice  in  the  everlasting  as- 
surance of  it,  cannot  but  be  filled  with  intense  joy. 
What  can  be  a  greater  foundation  of  complete  blessed- 
ness and  delight  than  the  immediate  sensation  and  as- 
surance of  being  beloved  by  the  glorious,  and  supreme, 
and  the  all-sufficient  Being,  who  will  never  suffer  his 
favorites  to  want  any  thing  he  can  bestow  upon  them  to 
make  them  happy  in  perfection,  and  for  ever?  All 
creatures  are  under  his  present  vfew  and  immediate 
command  ;  there  is  not  the  least  of  them  can  give  dis- 
turbance to  any  of  the  favorites  of  heaven,  who  dwell  in 
the  midst  of  their  Creator's  love  ;  nor  is  there  any  crea- 
ture that  can  be  employed  towards  the  complete  happi- 
ness of  the  saints  on  high,  but  is  for  ever  under  the 
disposal  of  that  God  who  has  made  all  things ;  and  it 
shall  be  employed  upon  every  just  occasion  for  the  dis- 
play of  his  love  to  his  saints. 

Some  have  imagined,  that  that  perfect  satisfaction  of 
soul  which  arises  from  a  good  conscience,  speaking 
peace  inwardly  in  the  survey  of  its  sincere  desire  to 
please  God  in  all  things,  and  having  with  upnghtness  of 
heart  fulfilled  its  duty,  is  the  supreme  delight  of  heaven. 
But  it  is  my  opinion  God  has  never  made  tlie  felicity  of 
his  creatures  to  be  drawn  so  entirely  out  of  themselves, 
or  from  the  spring  of  their  own  bosom,  as  this  notion 
seems  to  imply.  God  himself  will  be  all  in  all  to  his 
creatures  ;  and  all  their  original  springs  of  blessedness 
as  well  as  being  are  in  liim,  and  must  be  derived  from 
him.  It  is  therefore  the  overflowing  sense  of  being  be- 
loved by  a  God  almiglity  and  eternal,  that  is  the  su- 
preme fountain  of  joy  and  blessedness  to  every  reason 


0«,  THE  FORETASTE  OF  HEAVEN.  331 

able  nature,  and  the  endless  security  of  this  happiness 
is  joy  everlasting  in  all  the  regions  of  the  blessed  above. 
Now  a  taste  of  this  kind  is  heavenly  blessedness  even 
on  this  earth,  where  God  is  pleased  to  bestow  it  on  his^ 
creatures  ;  and  the  glimpses  of  it  bring  such  ecstacies 
into  the  soul  as  can  hardly  be  conceived,  or  revealed  to 
others,  but  it  is  best  felt  by  them  who  enjoy  it. 

SECTION  VII. 

Foretastes  of  heaven  in  the  fervent  emotions  of  soul 
in  love  to  Jesus  Christ. 

What  the  love  and  strong  affections  of  the  blessed 
saints  above  towards  Jesus  Christ  their  Lord  and  Sav- 
iour may  impress  of  joy  in  their  spirits,  is  not  possible 
for  us  to  learn  in  the  present  state  ;  but  there  are  some 
who  have  even  here  on  earth  felt  sucli  transcendant 
affections  to  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  even  thougli  they 
have  never  enjoyed  the  sight  of  him,  yet  tliey  love  him 
with  most  intense  and  ardent  zeal ;  their  devotion  al- 
most swallows  them  up  and  carries  them  away  captive 
above  all  earthly  things,  and  brings  them  near  to  the 
heavenly  world.  There  is  an  unknown  joy  which 
arises  from  such  intense  love  to  an  object  so  lovely  and 
so  deserving ;  such  is  that  which  is  spoken  concerning 
the  saints  to  whom  St.  Peter  wrote  ;  1  Peter  i.  8 ;  Whom 
having  not  seen,  ye  love,  in  whom  though  now  ye  see 
him  not,  yet  believing  ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory.  It  is  through  this  divine  taste  of  love,  and 
joy,  and  glory  communicated  by  the  blessed  Spirit,  re- 
vealing the  things  of  Christ  to  their  souls,  that  many  of 
the  confessors  snd  martyrs  in  the  primitive  ages  and  in 
latter  times,  have  not  only  joyfully  parted  with  all  their 
possessions  and  their  comforts  in  this  life,  but  have  fol- 
lowed the  call  of  God  through  prisons  and  deaths  of  a 
most  dreadful  kind ;  through  racks,  and  fires,  and  many 
torments  for  the  sake  of  the  love  of  Jesus.     And  perhaps 


33S  THE  FIRST  FRUITS  OF  THE  SPIRIT; 

there  may  be  some  in  our  day  who  have  so  lively  and 
strong  a  sensation  of  the  love  of  Christ  let  in  upon  their 
souls,  that  they  could  not  only  be  content  to  be  absent 
from  all  their  carnal  delights  for  ever,  but  even  from 
their  intellectual  and  more  spiritual  entertainments,  if 
they  might  be  for  ever  placed  in  such  a  situation  to  Jesus 
Christ,  as  to  feel  the  everlasting  beams  of  his  love  let 
out  upon  them,  and  to  rejoice  in  him  with  perpetual  de- 
light. As  he  is  the  nearest  image  of  God  the  Father, 
they  can  love  nothing  beneath  God  equal  to  their  love 
of  him,  nor  delight  in  any  thing  beneath  God  equal  to 
their  delight  in  Jesus  Christ.  Indeed  their  love  and 
their  joy  are  so  wrapped  up  in  the  great  and  blessed 
God  as  he  appears  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  they  do  not 
usually  divide  their  affections  in  this  matter,  but  love 
God  supremely  for  ever,  as  revealing  himself  in  his  most 
perfect  love  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  their  souls.  How  near 
this  may  approach  to  the  glorified  love  of  the  saints  in 
lieaven,  or  what  difference  there  is  between  the  holy 
ones  above  and  the  saints  below  in  this  respect,  may  be 
hard  to  say. 

SECTION  VIII. 

Foretastes  of  heaven  in  the  transcendant  love  of  the 
saints  to  each  other.  I  might  here  ask  some  advanced 
saints. 

Have  you  never  seen  or  heard  of  a  fellow-christian 
growing  into  such  a  near  resemblance  to  the  blessed 
Jesus,  in  all  the  virtues  and  graces  of  the  Spirit,  that 
you  would  willingly  pai*t  with  all  the  attainments  and 
honors  that  you  have  already  arrived  at,  which  make 
you  never  so  eminent  in  the  world  or  the  church,  as  to 
be  made  so  near  a  conformist  to  the  image  of  the  blessed 
Jesus  as  this  fellow-christian  has  seemed  to  be  ? 

Have  you  never  seen  or  read  of  the  glories  and  graces 
of  the  Son  of  God  exemplified  in  some  of  the  saints  in 
so  high  a  degree,  and  at  the  same  time  been  so  divested 


OR,  THE  FORETASTE  OP  HEAVEN.  333 

of  self,  and  so  mortified  to  a  narrow  self-love,  as  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  lowest  and  the  meanest  supports  of 
life,  and  the  meanest  station  in  the  church  of  Christ  here 
on  earth,  if  you  might  but  be  favored  to  partake  of  that 
transcendant  likeness  to  the  holy  Jesus,  as  you  would 
fain  imitate  and  possess  ? 

Have  you  never  had  a  view  of  all  the  virtues  and 
graces  of  the  saints,  derived  from  one  eternal  fountain,  the 
blessed  God,  and  flowing  through  the  mediation  of 
Jesus  his  Son,  in  so  glorious  a  manner,  that  you  have 
longed  for  the  day  when  you  shall  be  amongst  them, 
and  receive  your  share  of  this  blessedness  ?  Have  you 
never  found  yourself  so  united  to  tliem  in  one  heart  and 
one  soul,  that  you  have  wished  them  all  the  same  bless- 
ings that  you  wished  to  yourself,  and  that  without 
the  least  shadow  of  grudging  or  envy,  if  every  one  of 
them  were  partaker  as  much  as  you  ?  There  is  no  envy 
among  the  heavenly  inhabitants ;  nor  doth  St.  Paul  re- 
ceive the  less  because  Cephas  or  Apollos  has  a  large 
share.  Every  vessel  has  its  capacity  enlarged  to  a 
proper  extent  by  the  God  of  nature  and  grace,  and  every 
vessel  is  completely  filled,  and  feels  itself  for  ever  full 
and  for  ever  happy.  Then  there  cannot  be  found  the 
shadow  of  envy  amongst  them. 

Now  to  sum  up  the  view  of  these  things  in  short, 
who  is  there  that  enjoys  these  blessed  evidences  of  an. 
interest  in  the  inheritance  on  high ;  who  is  there  that  has 
any  such  foretastes  of  the  felicity  above,  but  must  join 
with  the  whole  creation  in  groaning  for  that  great  day, 
when  all  the  children  of  God  shall  appear  in  the  splen- 
dor of  their  adoption,  and  every  thing  in  nature  and 
grace  among  them  shall  attain  the  proper  end  for  which 
it  was  at  first  designed  ?  And  whensoever  any  such 
christian  hears  some  of  the  last  words  in  the  Bible  pro- 
nounced by  our  Lord  Jesus,  Surely  I  come  quickly,  he 
must  immediately  join  the  universal  echo  of  the  saints " 
with  unspeakable  delight,  even  so  come,  0  Lord  Jesus. 


DISCOURSE  XL 


SAFETY   IN   THE   GRAVE,   AND    JOY  AT 
THE  RESURRECTION. 

JOB  xiv.  13,  i%  1&. 

0  that  thou  ivouldst  hide  me  in  the  grave,  that  thou 
wouldst  keep  me  in  secret  until  thy  wrath  be  past,  that 
thou  wouldst  appoint  me  a  set  time  and  remember  me  ! 
If  a  man  die  shall  he  live  a  "^ain  ?  All  the  days  of  my 
appointed  time  will  I  wait  till  my  change  come.  Thou 
shalt  call  and  I  will  answer  thee.  Thou  wilt  have  a 
desire  to  the  work  of  thy  hands, 

BEFORE  we  attempt  to  make  any  improvement 
of  these  words  of  Job  for  our  present  edification,  it  is 
necessary  that  we  search  out  the  true  meaning  of  them. 
There  are  two  general  senses  of  these  three  verses, 
which  are  given  by  some  of  the  most  considerable  inter- 
preters of  scripture,  and  they  are  exceeding  different 
from  each  other. 

The  first  is  this.  Some  suppose  Job  under  the  ex- 
tremity of  his  anguish  to  long  after  death  here,  as  he 
does  in  some  other  parts  of  this  book,  and  to  desire  that 
God  would  cut  him  off  from  the  land  of  the  living,  and 
hide  him  in  the  grave,  or,  at  least,  take  him  away  from 
the  present  stage  of  action,  and  conceal  him  in  some 
retired  and  solitary  place,  dark  as  the  grave  is,  till  all 
the  days  which  might  be  designed  for  his  pain  and  sor- 
row were  finished  :  and  that  God  would  appoint  him 
a  time  for  his  restoration  to  health  and  happiness  again 
in  this  world,  and  raise  him  to  the  possession  of  it,  by 
calling  him  out  of  that  dark  and  solitary  place  of  retreat ; 


SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE,  &c.  335 

and  then  Job  would  answer  him,  and  appear  with 
pleasure  at  such  a  call  of  providence. 

Others  give  this  sense  of  the  words,  that  though  the 
pressing  and  overwhelming  sorrows  of  this  good  man 
constrained  him  to  long  for  death,  and  he  entreated  of 
God  that  he  might  be  sent  to  the  grave  as  a  hiding  place, 
and  thus  be  delivered  from  liis  present  calamities,  yet  he 
had  some  divine  glimpse  of  a  resurrection  or  living 
again,  and  he  hopes  for  the  happiness  of  a  future  state 
when  God  should  call  him  out  of  the  grave.  He  knew 
that  the  blessed  God  would  have  a  desire  to  restore  the 
work  of  his  own  hands  to  life  again,  and  Job  would  an- 
swer the  call  of  his  God  into  a  resurrection  witli  holy 
pleasure  and  joy. 

Now  there  are  four  or  five  reasons  which  incline  me 
to  prefer  this  latter  sense  of  the  words,  and  to  sliew  that 
the  comforts  and  hope  which  Job  aspires  to  in  this  j^lace, 
are  only  to  be  derived  from  a  resurrection  to  final  hap- 
piness. 

1.  The  express  words  of  the  text  are,  (J  that  thou 
imuldst  hide  me  in  the  grave  !  Not  in  a  darksome  place 
like  the  grave  ;  and  where  tlie  literal  sense  of  the  words 
is  plain  and  agreeable  to  the  context,  there  is  no  need  of 
making  metaphors  to  explain  them.  There  is  nothing 
that  can  encourage  us  to  suppose  that  Job  had  any  hope 
of  happiness  in  this  world  again,  after  he  was  gone  down 
to  the  grave,  and  therefore  he  would  not  make  so  unrea- 
sonable a  petition  to  the  great  God.  This  seems  to  be 
too  foolish  and  too  hopeless  a  request  for  us  to  put  into 
the  mouth  of  so  wise  and  good  a  man. 

2.  He  seems  to  limit  the  continuance  of  man  in  the 
state  of  death  to  the  duration  of  the  heavens,  verse  ISth 
man  lieth  down  and  riseth  not  till  the  heavens  be  no  more. 
Not  absolutely /or  ever  does  Job  desire  to  be  hidden  in 
the  grave,  but  till  the  dissolution  of  all  these  visible 
things,  these  heavens  and  this  earth,  and  the  great  rising 


336  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRWE, 

day  for  the  sons  of  men.     These  words  seem  to  have  a 
plain  aspect  towards  the  resurrection. 

And  especially  when  he  adds,  they  shall  not  be  awak- 
ened nor  raised  out  of  their  sleep.  The  brutes  when 
dying;  are  never  said  to  sleep  in  scripture,  because  they 
shall  never  rise  again  ;  but  this  is  a  frequent  word  used 
to  signify  the  death  of  man  both  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  in  the  New,  because  he  only  lies  down  in  the  grave 
for  a  season,  as  in  a  bed  of  sleep,  in  order  to  awake  and 
arise  hereafter. 

3.  In  other  places  of  this  book,  Job  gives  us  some 
evident  hints  of  his  hope  of  a  resurrection,  especially 
that  divine  passage  and  prophecy,  when  he  spake  as  one 
surrounded  with  a  vision  of  glory,  and  filled  with  the 
light  and  joy  of  faith.  Job  xix.  25  ;  ^^I  know  tliat  my 
Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  he  shall  stand  at  the  latter 
day  upon  the  earth.  And  though  after  my  skin  worms 
destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God  ; 
whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  mine  eyes  shall  behold, 
and  not  another,  though  my  reins  be  consumed  within 
me."  But  in  many  parts  of  this  book  the  good  man  lets 
us  know,  that  he  had  no  manner  of  hope  of  any  restor- 
ation to  health  and  peace  in  this  life.  Job  vii.  Q^'^y^'r, 
•^  My  days  are  spent  without  hope  :  mine  eye  shall  no 
more  see  good  :  the  eye  of  him  that  hath  seen  me  shall 
see  me  no  more  :  thine  eyes  are  upon  me,  and  I  am  not." 
Verse  21 ;  "  Now  shall  I  sleep  in  the  dust ;  thou  shalt 
seek  me  in  the  morning,  and  I  shall  not  be."  Job  xvii. 
15 ;  Where  is  now  my  hope  ?  As  for  my  hope,  who 
shall  see  it  ?"  He  and  his  hope  seemed  "  to  go  down 
to  the  bars  of  the  pit  together,  and  to  rest  in  the  dust." 
And  if  Job  had  no  hope  of  a  restoration  in  this  world, 
then  his  hopes  must  point  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

4.  If  we  turn  these  verses  here,  as  well  as  that  noble 
passage  in  Job  xix.  to  the  more  evangelical  sense  of  a 
resurrection,  the  truths  which  are  contained  in  the  one 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  337 

and  the  other,  are  all  supported  by  the  language  of  the 
New  Testament.  And  the  express  words  of  both  these 
texts  are  much  more  naturally  and  easily  applied  to  the 
evangelical  sense,  without  any  strain  and  difficulty. 

The  expressions  in  the  nineteenth  of  Job,  I  know  that 
my  Redeemer  livetJi^  &c.  have  been  rescued  by  many 
wise  interpreters  from  tliat  poor  and  low  sense  wliich 
has  been  forced  upon  them,  by  those  who  will  not  allow 
Job  to  have  any  prospect  beyond  this  life.  And  it  has 
been  made  to  appear  to  be  a  bright  glimpse  of  divine 
light  and  joy,  a  ray  or  vision  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
breaking  in  between  the  dark  clouds  of  his  pressing  sor- 
row. And  that  the  words  of  my  text  demand  the  same 
sort  of  interpretation,  will  appear  further  by  these  short 
remarks,  and  this  paraphrase  upon  them. 

Job  had  been  speaking,  verse  Y^  &c.  that  there  is  hove 
of  a  tree  when  it  is  cut  down,  that  it  will  sprout  again 
visibly,  and  bring  forth  boughs  ;  but  when  min  gives  up 
the  ghost  he  is  no  more  visible  upon  earth.  Where 
is  he  P  Job  does  not  deny  his  future  existence,  but  only 
intimates  that  he  does  not  appear  in  the  place  where  he 
was  ;  and  in  the  following  verses  he  does  not  say,  a  dying 
man  shall  never  rise,  or  shall  never  he  awakened  out  of 
his  sleep,  but  asserts  that  he  rises  not  till  the  dissolution 
of  these  heavens  and  these  visible  things.  And  by  call- 
ing death  a  sleep,  he  supposes  an  awaking  time,  though 
it  may  be  distant  and  far  off. 

Then  he  proceeds  to  long  for  death — 0  that  thou 
wouldst  hide  me  in  the  grave  !  that  thou  wouldst  keep 
me  secret  till  thy  wrath  be  past  f  Till  these  times  and 
seasons  of  sorrow  be  ended,  which  seems  to  be  the  effect 
of  divine  wrath  or  anger.  But  then  1  entreat  thou 
wouldst  appoint  me  a  set  time  for  my  tarrying  in  the 
grave,  and  remember  me  in  order  to  raise  me  again. 
Then  with  a  sort  of  surprise  of  faith  and  pleasure,  he 
adds,  if  a  man  die  shall  he  live  again  P  Shall  these  dry 
43 


338  SAFETY  IN  THE  GKWE, 

bones  live  ?  And  he  answers  in  the  language  of  hope — 
Ml  the  days  of  that  appointed  time  of  thine  /  icill  icait 
till  that  glorious  change  shall  come.  Thou  shalt  call 
from  heaven,  art £?  I  will  answer  thee  from  the  dust  of 
death.  I  will  appear  at  thy  call  and  say,  here  am  I. 
Thou  wilt  have  a  desire  to  the  work  of  thy  hands,  to  raise 
me  again  from  the  dead,  whom  thou  liast  made  of  clay, 
and  fashioned  me  into  life. 

From  the  words  thus  expounded,  we  may  draw  these 
several  observations,  and  make  a  short  reflection  upon 
each  of  them,  as  we  pass  along. 

'Observation  I.  This  world  is  a  place  wherein  good 
men  are  exposed  to  great  calamities,  and  they  are  ready 
to  think  the  anger  or  wrath  of  God  appears  in  them. 

Observation  II.  The  grave  is  God's  known  hiding 
place  for  his  people. 

Observation  III.  God  has  appointed  a  set  time  in  his 
own  counsels  for  all  his  children  to  continue  in  death. 

Observation  IV.  The  lively  view  of  a  happy  resur- 
rection, and  a  well  grounded  hope  of  this  blessed  change, 
is  a  solid  and  divine  comfort  to  tlie  saints  of  God,  under 
all  trials  of  every  kind,  both  in  life  and  death. 

Observation  V.  Tlie  saints  of  God  who  are  resting  in 
their  beds  of  dust,  will  arise  joyfully  at  the  call  of  tiich- 
heavenly  Father. 

Observation  YI.  God  takes  delight  in  liis  works  of 
nature,  ])ut  iiiiich  more  when  tliev  are  di2:nificd  and 
adorned  by  the  operations  of  divine  grace. 

Observation  VII.  How  much  are  we  indebted  to  Goil 
for  the  revelation  of  the  New  Testament,  whicli  teaches 
us  to  find  out  the  blessings  which  arc  contained  in  the. 
Old,  and  to  fetch  out  tlie  glories  and  treasures  Avhich  are 
concealed  there  ? 

Let  us  dwell  a  while  upon  each  of  these,  and  endeavor 
to  improve  them  by  a  particular  a])plication. 

Observation  I.    This  world  is  a  iiluce  wherehi  good 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  339 

men  are  exposed  to  great  calamities  ;  and  they  are  ready 
to  tJiink  the  anger  or  wrath  of  God  appears  in  them. 
This  mortal  life  and  this  present  state  of  things,  as  sur- 
rounded with  crosses  and  disappointments  ;  the  loss  of 
our  dearest  friends,  as  well  as  our  own  pains  anxl  sick- 
nesses, have  so  much  anguish  and  misery  attending  them, 
that  tliey  seem  to  be  the  seasons  of  divine  wrath,  and 
they  grieve  and  pain  the  spirit  of  many  a  pious  man,  un- 
der a  sense  of  the  anger  of  his  God.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed in  general,  that  misery  is  the  effect  of  sin,  for  sin 
and  sorrow  came  into  tlie  w  orld  together.  It  is  granted 
also,  tlitit  God  sometimes  affiicts  his  people  in  anger, 
and  corrects  them  in  his  hot  displeasure,  when  tliey 
have  sinned  against  him  in  a  remarkable  manner.  But 
this  is  not  always  the  case. 

The  great  God  was  not  really  angry  with  Job  when 
he  suffered  him  to  fall  into  such  complicated  distresses ; 
for  it  is  plain,  that  while  he  delivered  liim  up  into  the 
hands  of  Satan  to  be  afflicted,  he  vindicates  and  honors 
him  with  a  divine  testimony  concerning  his  piety.  Job  i.8. 
There  is  none  like  him  in  the  earth,  a  perfict  and  an 
upright  man,  one  that  feareth  God  and  avoideth  evil. 
Nor  was  he  angry  witli  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  when  it 
pleased  the  Father  to  hridse  him,  and  put  him  to  grief, 
w^hen  be  made  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin  ;  and  he  was 
stricken,  smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted  ;  Isai.  liii.  To 
these  we  may  add  Paul,  tl)e  best  of  the  apostles,  and  the 
greatest  of  christians,  who  was  abundant  in  labors  antl 
sufferings  beyond  all  the  rest.  See  a  dismal  catalogue 
of  his  calamities,  2  Cor.  xi.  23,  &c.  What  variety  of 
wretchedness,  what  terrible  persecutions  from  men,  what 
repeated  strokes  of  distress  came  upon  him  by  the  prov- 
idence of  God,  which  appeared  like  the  effects  of  divine 
wrath  or  anger?  But  they  were  plainly  designed  for 
more  divine  and  blessed  purposes,  both  with  regard  to 


340  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

God,  with  regard  to  himself,  and  to  all  the  succeeding 
ages  of  the  christian  church. 

God  does  not  always  smite  his  own  people  to  jninish 
sin  and  shew  liis  anger ;  but  these  sufferings  are  often 
appointed  for  the  trial  of  their  christian  virtues  and 
graces^  for  the  exercise  of  their  humility  and  their  pa- 
tience, for  the  proof  of  their  steadfastness  in  religion,  for 
the  honor  of  the  grace  of  God  in  them,  and  for  tlie 
increase  of  their  own  future  weight  of  glory.  Blessed  is 
the  man  that  endures  temptation  ;  for  when  he  is  tried, 
he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life  ichich  the  Lord  hath 
promised  to  them  that  love  him  ;  James  i.  12.  The 
devil  shall  cast  some  of  you  into  irrison^  that  you  may  he 
triedf  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten  days.  Be  thou 
faithfal  unto  death,  and  1  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life  ; 
Rev.  ii.  10.  Our  light  ajflictions  which  are  but  for  a 
moment,  are  working  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory  ;  3  Cor.  iv.  17- 

However,  upon  the  whole,  this  world  is  a  very  trou- 
blesome and  painful  place  to  the  children  of  God.  They 
are  subject  here  to  many  weaknesses  and  sins,  tempt- 
ations and  follies  ;  they  are  in  danger  of  new  deiilements ; 
they  go  through  many  threatening  perils,  and  many  real 
sorrows,  whicli  either  are  the  effects  of  the  displeasure 
of  God,  or,  at  least,  carry  an  appearance  of  divine  anger 
in  them.  But  there  is  a  time  when  the«e  shall  be  fin- 
ished, and  sorrow  shall  have  its  last  period.  There  is 
a  time  when  these  calamities  will  be  overpast,  and  shall 
return  no  more  for  ever. 

Reflection.  AYhy  then,  O  my  soul,  why  shouldst  thou 
be  so  fen  1  of  dwelling  in  this  present  world  ?  Why 
shouldst  thou  be  desirous  of  a  long  continuance  in  it? 
Hast  thou  never  found  sorrows  and  afflictions  enough 
among  the  scenes  of  life,  to  make  thee  weary  of  them  ? 
And  when  sorrow  and  sin  have  joined  together,  have 
they  not  grievously  embittered  this  life  unto  thee  ?  Wilt 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  84i 

thou  never  be  weaned  from  these  sensible  scenes  of  flesh 
and  blood  ?  Hast  thou  such  a  love  to  the  darknesses,  the 
defilements,  and  the  uneasinesses,  which  are  found  in 
such  a  prison  as  this  is,  as  to  make  thee  unwilling  to  de- 
part when  God  shall  call  ?  Hast  thou  dwelt  so  long  in 
this  tabernacle  of  clay,  and  doest  thou  not  groan,  being 
burdened  f  Hast  thou  no  desire  to  a  release  into  that 
upper  and  better  world,  where  sorrows,  sins  and  tempt- 
ations, have  no  place,  and  where  there  shall  never  be  the 
least  appearance  or  suspicion  of  the  displeasure  of  thy 
God  towards  thee  ? 

Observ.  II.  TJie  grave  is  God^s  known  hiding  place 
for  his  people.  It  is  his  appointed  shelter  and  retreat 
for  his  favorites,  when  he  finds  them  overpressed  either 
with  present  dangers  or  calamities,  or  when  he  foresees 
huge  calamities  and  dangers,  like  storms  and  billows, 
ready  to  overtake  them  ;  Isai.  Ivii.  1 ;  The  righteous  is 
taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come.  God  our  heavenly 
Father  beholds  this  evil  advancing  forward  through  all 
the  present  smiles  of  nature,  and  all  the  peaceful  circum- 
stances that  surround  us.  He  hides  his  children  in  the 
grave  from  a  thousand  sins,  and  sorrows,  and  distresses 
of  this  life,  which  they  foresaw  not.  And  even  when 
they  are  actually  beset  behind  and  before,  so  that  there 
seems  to  be  no  natural  way  for  their  escape,  God  calls 
them  aside  into  the  chambers  of  death,  in  the  same  sort 
of  language  as  he  uses  in  another  case ;  Isai.  xxvi.  20  ; 
Come  my  people,  enter  thou  info  thy  chambers^  and  shut 
thy  doors  about  thee,  hide  thyself  as  it  were  for  a  little 
moment,  till  the  indignation  be  overpassed. 

And  yet  perhaps  it  is  possible,  that  this  very  language 
of  the  Lord  in  Isaiah,  may  refer  to  the  grave,  as  God's 
hiding  place,  for  the  verse  before  promises  a  resurrection. 
Thy  dead  men  shall  live  ;  together  with  my  dead  body 
shall  they  arise.  Awake  and  sing  ye  that  dwell  in  the 
iust^for  thy  dew-  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs,  and  the  earth 


343  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

shall  cast  out  the  dead.  And  if  we  may  suppose  this 
last  verse  to  have  been  transposed  by  any  ancient  trans- 
cribers, so  as  to  liave  followed  originally  verse  SO  or  21. 
it  is  very  natural  then  to  interpret  the  whole  paragraph 
concerning  death,  as  God's  hiding  place  for  his  people, 
and  their  rising  again  through  the  virtue  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ,  as  their  joyful  release. 

Many  a  time  God  is  pleased  to  shorten  the  labors,  and 
travels,  and  fatigues  of  good  men  in  this  wilderness ; 
and  he  opens  a  door  of  rest  to  them  where  he  pleases, 
and  perhaps  surprises  them  into  a  state  of  safety  and 
peace,  where  the  icearif  are  at  rest,  and  the  wicked  cease 
from  troubling  ;  and  holy  Job  seems  to  desire  tliis  favor 
from  his  Maker  here. 

Sometimes  indeed,  in  the  history  of  tliis  book,  he 
seems  to  break  out  into  tiiese  desires  in  too  rude  and 
angry  a  manner  of  expression  ;  and  in  a  fit  of  criminal 
impatience,  he  murmurs  against  God  for  upholding  him 
in  the  land  of  the  living.  But  at  other  times,  as  in  his 
text,  he  represents  his  desires  with  more  decency  and 
submission.  Every  desire  to  die  is  not  to  be  construed 
sinful  and  criminal.  Nature  may  ask  of  God  a  relief 
from  its  agonies,  and  a  period  to  its  sorrows  ;  nor  does 
grace  utterly  forbid  it,  if  tliere  be  also  an  Immble  sub- 
mission and  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  such  as  we 
find  exemplified  by  our  blessed  Saviour ;  Father,  if  it  be 
thy  will,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me  ;  yet  not  as  I  will, 
but  as  thou  wilt. 

On  this  second  observation,  I  desire  to  make  thesa 
three  reflections. 

Reflection  1.  Though  a  good  man  knows  that  death 
was  originally  appointed  as  a  curse  for  sin,  yet  his  faith 
can  trust  God  to  turn  tiiat  curse  into  a  blessing :  he  can 
humbly  ask  his  Maker  to  release  him  from  the  painful 
bonds  of  life,  to  hasten  (he  slow  approaclies  of  death,  and 
to  hide  liim  in  tlic  grave  from  some  overwhelming  sor- 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  343 

VOWS.  This  is  the  glory  of  God  in  his  covenant  of  grace 
with  the  chiklren  of  men,  that  lie  turns  curses  intQ 
blessings ;  Deut.  xxiii.  5.  And  the  grave,  which  was 
designed  as  a  prison  for  sinners,  is  become  a  place  of 
shelter  to  the  saints,  where  they  are  hidden  and  secured 
from  rising  sorrows  and  calamities.  It  is  God's  known 
hiding  place  for  his  ov/n  children  from  the  envy  and  rage 
of  men ;  from  all  the  known  and  unknown  agonies  of 
nature,  the  diseases  of  the  flesh,  and  the  distresses  of 
human  life,  whicli  perhaps  might  be  overbearing  and 
intolerable. 

Why,  O  my  fearful  soul,  why  shouldst  thou  be  afraid 
of  dying?  Why  shouldst  thou  be  frighted  at  the  dark 
shadows  of  tlie  grave,  w  hen  thou  art  weary  with  the  toils 
aud  crosses  of  the  day  ?  Hast  thou  not  often  desired  the 
shadow  of  the  evening,  and  longed  for  the  bed  of  natural 
sleep,  where  thy  fatigues  and  thy  sorrow^  may  be  for- 
gotten for  a  season  ?  And  is  not  the  grave  itself  a  sweet 
sleeping  place  for  the  saints,  wherein  they  lie  down  and 
forget  their  distresses,  and  feel  none  of  the  miseries  of 
human  life,  and  especially  since  it  is  softened  and  sanc- 
tified by  the  Son  of  God  lying  down  there  ?  Why 
shouldst  thou  be  afraid  to  lay  thy  head  in  the  dust?  It 
is  but  entering  into  God's  hiding  place ,  into  his  chambers 
of  rest  and  repose.  It  is  hut  committing  thy  flesh,  the 
meaner  part  of  thy  composition,  to  his  care  in  the  dark 
for  a  short  season.  He  will  hide  thee  there,  and  keep 
thee  in  safety  from  the  dreadful  trials  which  perhaps 
would  overwhelm  thy  spirit.  Sometimes  in  the  course 
of  his  providence  he  may  find  it  necessary  that  some 
spreading  calamity  should  overtake  the  place  wliere  thou 
dwellest,  or  some  distressing  stroke  fall  upon  thy  family, 
or  thy  friends  ;  but  he  will  hide  tliee  under  ground  be- 
fore it  comes,  and  thus  disappoint  all  thy  fears,  and  lay 
every  perplexing  thought  into  rest  and  silence. 

Reflection  S.    Let  it  be   ever  remembered,  that  the 


1 


344  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

grave  is  God's  hiding  place  and  not  our  own.  We  are 
to  venture  into  it  without  terror  when  he  calls  us ;  but 
he  does  not  suffer  us  to  break  into  it  our  own  way  with- 
out his  call.  Death  and  life  are  in  the  hands  of  God, 
and  he  never  gave  the  keys  of  them  to  mortal  men,  to  let 
themselves  out  of  this  Avorld  when  they  please,  nor  to 
enter  his  hiding  place  without  his  leave. 

Bear  up  then,  O  my  soul,  under  all  tlie  sorrows  and 
trials  of  this  present  state,  till  God  himself  shall  say,  ii 
is  finished  ;  till  our  blessed  Jesus,  who  has  the  keys  put 
into  his  hands,  sliall  open  the  door  of  death,  and  give 
thee  an  entrance  into  that  dark  and  peaceful  retreat.  It 
is  a  safe  and  silent  refuge  from  the  bustle  and  the  noise, 
the  labors  and  the  troubles  of  life  ;  but  he  .that  forces  it 
open  with  his  own  hands,  how  will  he  dare  to  appear 
before  God  in  the  world  of  spirits  ?  What  will  lie  an- 
swer, when  with  a  dreadful  frown  the  great  God  shall 
demand  of  him,  friend^  how  comest  thou  in  hither  f 
Who  sent  for  thee,  or  gave  tiiee  leave  to  come  ?  Such  a 
wretch  must  venture  upon  so  rash  an  action  at  tlie  peril 
of  the  wrath  of  God,  and  his  own  eternal  destruction. 

Our  blessed  Jesus,  who  has  all  the  vast  scheme  of 
divine  counsels  before  his  eyes,  by  having  the  books  of 
his  Father's  degrees  put  into  his  hands,  he  knows  how 
long  it  is  proper  for  thee,  O  christian,  to  tight  and  labor, 
to  wrestle  and  strive  with  sins,  temptations  and  difficul- 
ties in  the  present  life.  He  linows  best  in  what  moment 
to  put  a  period  to  them,  and  pronounce  thee  conqueror. 
Fly  not  from  the  field  of  battle  for  w  ant  of  holy  fortitude, 
though  thy  enemies  and  thy  dangers  be  never  so  many ; 
nor  dare  to  dismiss  thyself  from  thy  appointed  post,  till 
the  Lord  of  life  pronounce  the  word  of  thy  dismission. 

Sometimes  I  have  been  ready  to  say  within  myself, 
why  is  my  life  prolonged  in  sorrow  ?  Why  are  my  days 
lengthened  out  to  see  further  wretchedness  ?  Methinks 
the  p'ave  should,  he  remlyfor  me,  and  the  house  appoint- 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  345 

edfor  all  the  living.  What  can  I  do  further  for  God  or 
for  man  here  on  earth,  since  my  nature  pmes  away 
with  painful  sickness,  my  nerves  are  unstrung,  my 
spirits  dissipated,  and  my  best  powers  of  acting  are  en- 
feebled and  almost  lost?  Peace,  peace,  0  thou  com- 
plaining spirit !  Dost  thou  know  the  counsels  of  the 
Almighty,  and  the  secret  designs  of  thy  God  and  thy 
Saviour?  He  has  many  deep  and  unknown  purposes 
in  continuing  his  cliildren  amidst  heavy  sorrows,  which 
they  can  never  penetrate  or  learn  in  this  world.  Silence 
and  submission  becomes  thee  at  all  times.  Father^  not 
my  will  hat  thy  will  be  done. 

And  let  it  be  hinted  to  thee,  O  my  soul,  that  it  is 
much  more  honorable  to  be  weary  of  this  life,  because 
of  the  sins  and  temptations  of  it,  than  because  of  the  toils 
and  sorrows  that  attend  it.  If  we  must  groan  in  this 
tabernacle  bein^  burdened,  let  the  snares,  and  the  dan- 
gers, and  the  defilements  of  it  be  the  chief  springs  of  thy 
groaning  and  the  warmest  motives  to  request  a  release. 
God  loves  to  see  his  people  more  afraid  of  sin  than  of 
sorrow.  If  thy  corruptions  are  so  strong,  and  the  temp- 
tations of  life  so  unhappily  surround  thee,  that  thou  art 
daily  crying  out,  who  shall  deliver  thee  from  the  body  of 
sin  and  death,  then  thou  mayest  more  honoraldy  send  up 
a  wish  to  heaven,  O  that  Iliad  the  wings  of  a  dove,  that 
I  might  fly  away  and  be  at  rest  !  O  that  God  would  hide 
me  in  the  grave  from  my  prevailing  iniquities,  and  from 
the  ruffling  and  disquieting  influence  of  ray  own  follies 
and  my  daily  temptations  !  But  never  be  thou  quite 
weary  of  doing  or  suifering  the  will  of  thy  heavenly 
Father,  though  he  should  continue  thee  in  this  mortal 
life  a  length  of  years  beyond  thy  desires,  and  should 
withhold  thee  from  his   secret  place  of  retreat  and  rest. 

A  constant  and  joyful  readiness  at  the  call  of  God  to 
depart  hence,  with  a  cheerful  patience  to  continue   here 
daring  his  pleasure,  is  the  most  perfect  and  blessed  tem- 
44 


346  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

per  that  a  christian  can  arrive  at.  It  gives  God  the 
highest  glory,  and  keeps  the  soul  in  the  sweetest  peace. 

Reflection  3.  This  one  thought,  that  the  grave  is  God's 
Jiiding place,  should  compose  our  spirits  to  silence,  and 
abate  our  mourning  for  the  loss  of  friends,  who  have 
given  sufficient  evidence  that  they  are  the  children  of 
Grod.  Their  heavenly  Father  has  seized  them  from  tlie 
midst  of  their  trials,  dangers  and  difficulties,  and  given 
them  a  secure  refuge  in  his  own  appointed  place  of  rest 
and  safety.  Jesus  has  opened  the  door  of  the  grave 
with  his  golden  key,  and  liath  let  them  into  a  chamber 
of  repose.  He  has  concealed  them  in  a  silent  retreat, 
where  temptation  and  sin  cannot  reach  them,  and  where 
anguish  and  misery  can  never  come. 

When  I  have  lost  therefore  a  dear  and  delightful  re- 
lative or  friend,  or  perhaps  many  of  them  in  a  short 
season  are  called  successively  dow  n  to  the  dust,  let  me 
say  thus  within  myself,  "  It  is  their  God  and  my  God 
has  done  it.  He  saw  what  new  temptations  were  ready 
to  surround  them  in  the  circumstances  of  life  wherein 
they  stood.  He  beheld  t!ie  trials  and  difficulties  that 
were  ready  to  encompass  them  on  all  sides,  and  his 
love  made  a  way  for  their  escape.  He  opened  the  dark 
retreat  of  death,  and  hid  them  there  from  a  thousand 
perils  which  might  have  plunged  them  into  guilt  and  de- 
filement. He  beheld  this  as  the  proper  season  to  give 
them  a  release  from  a  world  of  labor  and  toil,  vanity  and 
vexation,  sin  and  sorrow.  They  are  taken  away  from 
the  evil  to  come,  and  I  will  learn  to  complain  no  more. 
Tiie  blessed  Jesus  to  whom  they  had  devoted  themselves, 
well  knew  what  allurements  of  gaiety  and  joy  might 
have  been  too  prevalent  over  them,  and  he  gave  them  a 
kind  escape  lest  their  souls  should  suffer  any  real  det- 
riment, lest  their  strict  profession  of  piety  should  be  soil- 
ed or  dishonored.  He  knew  how  mucli  they  ivere  ahle 
to  beai%  and  lie  iconld  lay  ujmn  them  no  further  burden. 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION,  34^7 

He  saw  rising  difficulties  approaching,  and  new  perils 
coming  upon  them  beyond  their  strength,  and  he  fulfils 
their  own  promises,  and  glorifies  his  oxvn  faithfulness, 
by  opening  the  door  of  his  well  known  hiding  place, 
and  giving  them  a  safe  refuge  there.  He  keeps  them 
there  in  secret  from  the  corruptions  of  a  public  life,  and 
the  multiplied  dangers  of  a  degenerate  age,  which  might 
have  divided  their  hearts  from  God  and  things  heavenly. 
And  perhaps  he  guards  them  also  in  that  dark  retreat 
from  some  long  and  languishing  sickness,  some  unknown 
distress,  some  overbearing  flood  of  misery,  which  was 
like  to  come  upon  them  had  they  continued  longer  on 
the  stage  of  life. 

^^Let  this  silence  thy  murmuring  thoughts,  Omy  soul; 
let  this  dry  up  thy  tears  which  are  ready  to  overflow  on 
such  an  occasion.  Dare  not  pronounce  it  a  stroke  of 
anger  from  the  hand  of  God,  who  divided  them  from 
the  tempting  or  the  distressing  scenes  of  this  world,  and 
kindly  removed  them  out  of  the  way  of  danger.  This 
was  the  wisest  method  of  his  love  to  guard  them  from 
many  a  folly  and  many  a  sorrow,  which  he  foresaw  just 
at  the  door." 

Will  the  wounded  and  complaining  heart  go  on  to 
groan  and  murmur  still,  ^'^  But  my  son  was  carried  off 
in  the  prime  of  life,  or  my  daughter  in  her  blooming 
years  ;  they  stood  flourishing  in  the  vigor  of  their  na- 
ture, and  it  was  my  delight  to  behold  their  growing 
appearances  of  virtue  and  goodness,  and  that  in  the 
midst  of  ease,  and  plenty,  and  prospects  of  happiness, 
so  far  as  this  world  can  afford  it  ?" 

But  could  you  look  through  the  next  year  to  the  end 
of  it  ?  Could  you  penetrate  into  future  events,  and  sur- 
vey the  scenes  of  seven  years  to  come  ?  Could  your 
heart  assure  itself  of  the  real  possession  of  this  imagina- 
ry view  of  happiness  and  peace  ?  Perhaps  the  blessed 
God  saw  the  clouds  gathering  afar  off;,  and  at  a  great 


348  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

distance  of  tirae,  and  in  much  kindness  he  housed  your 
favorite  from  unknown  trials,  dangers  and  sorrows. 
So  a  prudent  gardener,  who  is  acquainted  with  tlie  sky, 
and  skilful  in  the  signs  of  the  seasons,  even  in  the  month 
of  May,  foresees  a  heavy  tempest  rising  in  the  edge  of 
the  horizon,  while  a  vulgar  eye  observes  nothing  but 
sunshine  ;  and  he  who  knows  the  worth  and  the  tender- 
ness of  some  special  plants  in  his  garden,  houses  them 
in  haste,  lest  they  should  be  exposed  and  demolished 
by  the  sweeping  rain  or  hail. 

You  say,  these  children  were  in  the  bloom  of  life^  and 
in  the  most  desirable  appearance  of  jo^  and  satisfaction. 
But  is  not  that  also  usually  the  most  dangerous  season 
of  life,  and  the  hour  of  most  powerful  temptation  ?  Was 
not  that  the  time  when  their  passions  might  have  been 
too  hard  for  them,  and  the  deluding  pleasures  of  life 
stood  round  them  with  a  most  perilous  assult  ?  And 
"what  if  God,  out  of  pure  compassion,  saw  it  necessary 
to  liide  them  from  an  army  of  perils  at  once,  and  to  car- 
ry them  oif  the  stage  of  life  with  more  purity  and  honor? 
Surely  when  the  great  God  has  appointed  it,  when  the 
blessed  Jesus  has  done  it,  we  would  not  rise  up  in  op- 
position and  say,  "But  I  would  have  liad  them  live  lon- 
ger here  at  all  adventures.  I  wish  they  were  alive 
again,  let  the  consequence  be  what  it  will."  This  is 
not  the  voice  of  faith  or  patience  ;  this  is  not  the  lan- 
guage of  holy  submission  and  love  to  God,  nor  can  our 
souls  approve  of  such  irregular  storms  of  ungoverned 
affection,  which  oppose  tliemselves  to  the  divine  will, 
and  raffle  tlie  soul  with  criminal  disquietude. 

There  are  many,  even  of  tlie  children  of  God,  who 
bad  left  a  more  unblemished  and  a  more  honorable 
character  behind  them,  if  they  had  died  much  sooner. 
The  latter  end  of  life  hath  sometimes  sullied  their  bright- 
ness, and  tarnished  the  glory  they  had  acquired  in  a 
liopeful  youth.     Their  growing  years  have  fallen  under 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  349 

such  temptations,  and  been  defiled  and  disgraced  by  such 
failings,  as  would  have  been  entirely  prevented  had  they 
been  summoned  away  into  God's  hiding  place  some  years 
before.  Our  blessed  Jesus  walks  among  the  roses  and 
lilies  in  the  garden  of  his  church,  and  m  hen  he  sees  a 
wintry  storm  coming  upon  some  tender  plants  of  righ- 
teousness, he  hides  them  in  earth  to  preserve  life  in  them, 
that  they  may  bloom  with  new  glories  when  they  shall 
be  raised  from  that  bed.  The  blessed  God  acts  like  a 
tender  Father,  and  consults  the  safety  and  honor  of  his 
children,  wheji  the  hand  of  his  mercy  snatches  them 
away  before  that  powerful  temptation  comes,  which  he 
foresees  would  have  defiled  and  distressed,  and  almost 
destroyed  them.  They  are  not  lost,  but  they  are  gone 
to  rest  a  little  sooner  than  we  are.  Peace  be  to  that  bed 
of  dust  where  tiiey  are  hiddeu,  by  the  hand  of  their  God, 
from  unknown  dangers  !  Blessed  be  our  Lord  Jesus, 
who  has  the  keys  of  the  grave,  and  never  opens  it  for 
Lis  favorites  but  in  the  wisest  season  ! 

Observation  III.  God  has  appointed  a  set  time  in  his 
own  counsels  for  all  his  children  to  continue  in  death. 
Those  whom  he  has  hidden  in  the  grave  he  remembers 
they  lie  there,  and  he  will  not  suifer  them  to  abide  in 
the  dust  for  ever.  When  Job  entreats  of  God  that  he 
may  be  hidden  from  his  sorrows  in  the  dust  of  death, 
he  requests  also  that  God  would  appoint  a  set  time  for 
his  release,  and  remember  him.  His  faith  seems  to 
have  had  a  glimpse  of  the  blessed  resurrection.  Our 
senses  and  our  carnal  passions  would  cry  out,  where  is 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  the  rest  of  the  an- 
cient worthies,  who  have  been  long  sleepers  in  their 
beds  of  repose  for  many  thousand  years  ?  But  faith  as- 
sures us,  that  God  numbers  the  days  and  the  months  of 
their  concealment  under  ground  ;  he  knows  where  their 
dust  lies,  and  where  to  find  every  scattered  atom  against 
the  great  restoring  (lay.     They  are  unseen  indeed  and 


350  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

forgotten  of  men,  but  they  arc  under  the  eye  and  tho 
keeping  of  the  blessed  God.  He  watches  over  then- 
sleeping  dust,  and  while  the  world  has  forgotten  and  lost 
even  their  names,  they  are  every  moment  under  the  eye 
of  God,  for  they  stand  written  in  his  book  of  life,  with 
the  name  of  the  Lamb  at  the  head  of  them. 

Jesus,  his  Son,  had  but  three  days  appointed  him  to 
dwell  in  his  hiding  place,  and  he  rose  again  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour.  Other  good  men,  who  were  gone  to  tlieir 
grave  not  long  before  him,  arose  again  at  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  and  made  a  visit  to  many  in  Jerusalem.  Their 
appointed  hiding  place  was  but  for  a  short  season  ;  and 
all  the  children  of  God  shall  be  remembered  in  theii 
proper  seasons  in  faithfulness  to  his  Son,  to  wliom  he 
has  given  them.  The  Head,  is  raised  to  the  mansions  of 
glory,  and  the  members  must  not  for  ever  lie  in  dust. 

Mejieetion.  Then  let  all  the  saints  of  God  wait  with 
patience  for  the  appointed  time  Avhen  he  will  call  them 
down  to  death,  and  let  them  lie  dow  n  in  their  secret 
beds  of  repose,  and  in  a  waiting  frame  commit  their  dust 
to  liis  care  till  the  resurrection.  Ml  the  days  of  my  ajj- 
fohited  time  (says  Job)  I  unll  wait  till  my  change  come. 
The  word  appointed  time  is  supposed  to  signify  warfare 
in  the  Hebrew.  As  a  sentinel,  when  he  is  fixed  to  his 
post  by  liis  general,  he  waits  there  till  he  has  orders  for 
a  release.  And  this  clause  of  the  verse  may  refer  either 
to  dying  or  rising  again,  for  either  of  them  is  a  very 
great  and  important  change  passing  upon  human  nature, 
whether  from  life  to  death,  or  from  death  to  life. 

It  is  said  by  the  prophet  Isaiah,  chap,  xxviii.  16 ;  Me 
that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste  ;  that  is,  he  that  trusts 
in  the  wisdom  and  the  promised  mercy  of  Go/l  will  not 
be  too  urgent  or  importunate  in  any  of  his  desires.  It 
is  for  want  of  faith  that  nature  sometimes  is  in  too  much 
haste  to  die,  as  Job  in  some  of  his  expressions  appears 
to  have  been,  or  as  Elijah  perhaps  discovered   himself 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  351 

wlien  he  was  wandering  in  the  wilderness  disconsolate 
and  almost  despairing,  or  as  the  prophet  Jeremiah  suffi- 
ciently manifested,  when  he  cursed  the  day  of  his  birth, 
or  as  Jonah  was,  that  peevish  prophet,  when  he  was  an- 
gry with  God  for  not  taking  away  his  life;  but  the  ground 
of  it  was,  he  was  vexed  because  God  did  not  destroy 
Ninevah  according  to  his  propliecy.  These  are  certain 
blemishes  of  the  children  of  God  left  upon  record  in  his 
word,  to  give  us  warning  of  our  danger  of  impatience, 
and  to  guard  ns  against  their  sins  and  follies.  And 
since  we  know  that  God  has  appointed  tlie  seasons  of 
our  entrance  into  death,  and  into  the  state  of  the  resur- 
rection, we  should  humbly  commit  the  disposal  of  our- 
selves to  the  hand  of  our  God,  who  will  bestow  upon  us 
the  most  needful  blessings  in  the  most  proper  season. 

Do  not  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect  wait  in  pa- 
tience for  the  great  and  blessed  rising  day  which  God 
has  appointed,  and  for  the  illustrious  change  of  their 
bodies  from  corruption  and  darkness  to  light,  and  life, 
and  glory  ?  God  has  promised  it,  and  that  suffices  and 
supports  their  waiting  spirits,  though  they  know  not  the 
hour.  The  Father  keeps  that  in  Ms  own  hand,  and  per- 
haps reveals  it  to  none  but  his  Son  Jesus,  who  is  exalted 
to  be  the  Governor  and  Judge  of  the  world.  There 
are  millions  of  souls  waiting  in  that  separate  state  for 
the  accomplishment  of  these  last  and  best  promises, 
ready  to  shout  and  rejoice  when  tliey  shall  see  and  feel 
that  bright  morning  dawning  upon  them. 

Wait  therefore,  O  my  soul,  as  becomes  a  child  of 
God  in  the  wilderness  among  many  trials,  darknesses, 
and  distresses.  He  lias  stripped  thee  perhaps  of  one 
comfort  after  another,  and  tliy  friends  and  dear  relatives 
in  succession  are  called  down  to  the  dust ;  tliey  are  re- 
leased from  their  conflicts,  and  are  placed  far  out  of  the 
reach  of  every  temptation  ;  and  it  is  not  thy  business  to 
prescribe  to  God  at  what  hour  he  shall  release  thee  also. 


35S  SAFETY  IN  THE  GR  WE, 

Whensoever  he  is  pleased  to  call  thee  to  lay  down  thy 
flesh  in  the  dust,  and  to  enter  into  God's  hiding  place, 
meet  tiiou  the  summons  with  holy  courage,  satisfaction 
and  joy,  enter  into  the  chamber  of  rest  till  all  the  days 
of  sin,  sorrow,  and  wretchedness,  are  overpast.  Lie 
down  there  ;n  a  waiting  frame,  and  commit  thy  flesh  to 
liis  care  and  keeping,  till  the  hour  in  which  he  has  ap- 
pointed thy  glorious  change. 

Observation  IV.  The  lively  view  of  a  happy  resurrec- 
tion, and  a  well  grounded  hope  of  this  blessed  change, 
is  a  solid  and  divine  comfort  to  the  saints  of  God,  under 
all  trials  of  every  kind,  both  in  life  and  death.  The 
faith  and  hope  of  a  joyful  rising  day  has  supported  the 
children  of  God  under  long  distresses  and  huge  agonies 
of  sorrow  which  they  sustain  here.  It  is  the  expectation 
of  this  desirable  dav  that  animates  the  soul  with  vii^or 
and  life,  to  fulfil  every  painful  and  dangerous  duty.  It 
is  for  this  we  expose  ourselves  to  the  bitter  reproaches 
and  persecutions  of  the  wicked  world  ;  it  is  for  this  that 
we  conflict  with  all  our  adversaries  on  earth,  and  all 
the  powers  of  darkness  that  are  sent  from  hell  to  annoy 
us;  it  is  this  joyful  expectation  that  bears  up  our  spirits 
under  every  present  burden  and  calamity  of  life. 

What  could  we  do  in  such  a  painful  and  dying  world, 
or  how  could  we  bear  with  patience  the  long  fatigues  of 
such  a  wretched  life,  if  we  had  no  hope  of  rising  again 
from  the  dead  ?  Surely  we  are  the  most  miserable  of  all 
men  in  days  of  public  persecution,  if  we  had  hope  only 
in  this  life  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  19.  It  is  for  this  that  we  labor, 
and  suifer,  and  endure  whatsoever  our  heavenly  Father 
is  pleased  to  lay  upon  us.  It  is  this  confirms  our  forti- 
tude, and  makes  '^us  steadfast,  unmoveable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  for  as  much  as  vve 
know  that  our  labor  shall  not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord ;'' 
1  Cor.  XV.  58.  It  is  this  that  enables  us  to  bear  the 
loss  of  our  dearest  friends  with  patience  and  hope,  and 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  353 

assuages  the  smart  of  our  sharpest  sorrows.  For  since  we 
believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  so  we  rejoice  in 
hope  that  they  which  sleep  in  Jesus  shall  he  brought  with 
him  at  his  return,  and  shall  appear  in  brighter  and  more 
glorious  circumstances  than  ever  our  eyes  were  blessed 
with  here  on  earth ;  1  Thess.  iv  13.  This  teaches  us 
to  triumph  over  death  and  the  grave  in  divine  language, 
O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  !  O  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  ! 

Hefiectioyi.  What  are  thy  chief  burdens,  O  my  soul  ? 
Whence  are  all  thy  sighs  and  thy  daily^  groanings  ? 
What  are  thy  distresses  of  flesh  or  spirit  ?  Summon 
them  all  in  one  view,  and  see  whether  there  be  not 
power  and  glory  enough  in  a  resurrection  to  conquer  and 
silence  them  all,  and  to  put  thy  present  sorrows  to 
flight  ? 

Dost  thou  dwell  in  a  vexing  and  persecuting  world, 
amongst  oppressions  and  reproaches  ?  But  those  who 
reproach  and  oppress  are  but  mortal  creatures,  who  shall 
shortly  go  down  to  the  dust,  and  then  they  shall  tyrannize 
and  afllict  thee  no  more.  The  great  rising  day  shall 
change  the  scene  from  oppression  and  reproach  to  do- 
minion and  glory.  When  they  lie  doivn  in  the  grave 
like  beasts  of  slaughter,  death  shall  feed  on  them,  and  the 
upright  shall  have  dominion  over  them  in  the  morning, 
when  God  shall  redeem  thy  soul  from  the  power  of  the 
grave.  Thy  God  shall  hide  thy  body  from  their  rage 
in  his  own  appointed  resting  place,  and  he  shall  receive 
thy  soul,  and  keep  it  secure  in  his  own  presence,  till 
that  blessed  morning  break  upon  this  lower  creation ; 
then  shalt  thou  arise  and  shine,  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
is  risen  upon  thee. 

Do  the  calamities  which  thou  sufferest  proceed  from 

the  hand  of  God  ?     Art  thou  disquieted  with  daily  pain, 

with  sicknesses,  and  anguish  in  thy  flesh?     Or  art  thou 

surrounded  with  crosses  and  disappointments   in  thy 

4.^ 


354  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

outward  circumstances?  Are  thy  spirits  sunk  with 
many  loads  of  care  and  pressing  perplexities  ?  Canst 
thou  not  forget  them  all  in  the  vision  tliat  faith  can  give 
thee  of  the  great  rising  day  ?  Canst  thou  not  say  in  the 
language  of  faith,  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are 
not  worthy  to  he  compared  with  the  glory  that  shall  he 
revealed  in  us  ?  Then  the  head  and  the  heart  shall 
ache  no  more,  and  every  circumstance  around  thee  shall 
be  pleasing  and  joyful  for  ever. 

Or  art  thou  tenderly  affected  with  the  loss  nf  pious 
friends,  who  have  been  very  dear  and  desirable  ?  Per- 
haps thy  sensibilities  here  are  too  great  and  painful. 
They  are  such  indeed  as  nature  is  ready  to  indulge,  bul 
are  they  not  more  than  God  requires,  or  the  gospel 
allows  ?  Do  not  tiiy  thoughts  dwell  too  much  on  the 
gloom  and  darkness  of  the  grave  ?  O  think  of  that 
bright  hour  when  every  saint  shall  rise  from  the  dark 
retreats  of  death,  with  more  complete  characters  of 
beauty,  holiness  and  pleasure,  than  ever  this  world  could 
shew  them  in  !  They  are  not  perished,  but  sent  a  little 
before  us  into  God's  hiding  place,  where,  though  tliey 
lie  in  dust  and  darkness,  yet  they  are  safe  from  the  dan- 
gers and  vexations  of  life ;  but  they  sliall  spring  up  in 
the  happy  moment  into  immortality,  and  shall  join  with 
thee  in  a  mutual  surprise  at  each  other's  divine  cliange. 

Or  dost  thou  feel  the  corruptions  of  thy  heart  working 
within  thee,  and  the  sins  of  thy  nature  restless  in  tlieir 
endeavors  to  bring  defilement  upon  tliy  soul,  and  guilt 
upon  tliy  conscience?  Go  on  and  maintain  the  lioly  war- 
fare against  all  these  rising  iniquities.  This  my  warfare 
shall  not  continue  long.  Tliou  shalt  find  every  one  of 
these  sins  buried  with  thee  in  the  grave  :  but  they  shall 
rise  to  assault  thee  no  more.  The  saint  shall  leave 
every  sin  behind  him  when  he  breaks  out  of  the  dust  at 
the  summons  of  Christ  ;  and  tliou  shalt  find  no  seeds  of 
iniquity  in  thy  body,  when  it  is  raised  from  tlie  grnvo. 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  355 

Holiness  to  the  Lord  shall  be  inscribed  upon  all  thy 
powers  for  ever. 

Or  art  thou  perplexed,  O  my  soul,  at  the  near  pros- 
pect of  death,  and  all  the  terrors  and  dismal  appearances 
that  surround  it  ?  Art  thou  afraid  to  lie  down  in  the 
cold  and  noisome  grave  ?  Does  thy  nature  shudder  at 
it  as  a  gloomy  place  of  horror  ?  These  indeed  are  the 
prejudices  of  sense ;  but  the  language  of  faith  will  tell 
thee,  it  is  only  God^s  hiding  place  where  he  secures  his 
saints  till  all  the  ages  of  sin  and  sorrow  are  overpast. 
Look  forward  to  the  glorious  morning  when  thou  shalt 
rise  from  the  dust  among  ten  thousand  of  thy  fellows, 
every  one  in  the  image  of  the  Son  of  God,  with  their 
hodies  formed  after  the  likeness  of  his  glorious  hody, 
and  rejoicing  together  with  divine  satisfaction  in  the 
pleasure  of  this  heavenly  change.  Try  whether  the 
meditation  of  these  glories,  and  the  distant  prospect  of 
this  illustrious  day,  will  scatter  all  the  gloom  that  hovers 
round  tlie  grave,  and  vanquish  the  fiercest  appearances 
of  the  king  of  terrors. 

What  is  there,  O  my  soul,  among  all  the  miseries 
thou  hast  felt,  or  all  that  thou  fearest,  that  can  sink  tliy 
courage,  if  the  faith  of  a  resurrection  be  but  alive  and 
wakeful  ?     But  this  leads  me  to 

Observj^tion  V.  The  saints  of  God,  ivho  are  resting 
in  their  beds  cf  dust,  will  arise  joyfully  at  the  call  of 
their  heavenly  Father.  Thou  shalt  call,  and  I  will 
answer  thee,  said  holy  Job.  The  command  of  God 
creates  life,  and  gives  power  to  the  dead  to  arise  and 
speak.  /  come,  O  Lord,  I  come.  When  Jesus,  the 
Son  of  God,  as  with  the  trumpet  of  an  archangel,  shall 
pronounce  the  word  which  he  spake  to  Lazarus,  Arise 
and  come  fortlu  dust  and  rottenness  shall  hear  the  call 
from  heaven,  and  the  clods  of  corruption  all  around  the 
earth  shall  arise  into  the  form  of  man.  The  saints  shall 
appear  at  once  and  answer  to  that  divine  call,  arrayed 


356  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

ill  a  glory  like  that  of  angels ;  an  illustrious  host  of  mar- 
tyrs and  confessors  for  the  truth  ;  an  army  of  heroes  and 
valiant  sufferers  for  the  na  je  and  cause  of  God  and  his 
Son  ;  an  innumerable  multitude  of  faithful  servants  who 
have  finished  their  work,  and  lay  down  at  rest. 

How  shall  Adam,  the  father  of  our  race,  together  with 
the  holy  men  of  his  day,  be  surprised  when  they  shall 
awake  out  of  their  long  sleep  of  five  thousand  years  ? 
How  shall  all  the  saints  of  the  intermediate  ages  break 
from  their  beds  of  darkness  with  intense  delight  ?  And 
those  who  lay  down  but  yesterday  in  the  dust  shall  start 
up  at  once  with  their  early  ancestors,  and  answer  to  the 
call  of  Jesus  from  one  end  of  time  to  the  other,  and  from 
all  the  ends  of  the  earth.  They  shall  arise  together  to 
7neet  the  Lord  in  the  air,  that  they  may  he  for  ever  with 
the  Lord. 

Never  was  any  voice  obeyed  with  more  readiness  and 
joy  than  the  voice  or  trumpet  of  the  great  archangel, 
summoning  all  the  children  of  God  to  awake  from  their 
long  slumbers,  and  to  leave  their  dusty  beds  behind 
them,  with  all  the  seeds  of  sin  and  sorrow,  which  are  bu- 
ried and  lost  tliere  for  ever.  Never  did  any  army  on  earth 
march  with  more  speed  and  pleasure,  at  tlie  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  to  attend  their  general  to  a  new  triumph,  than 
this  glorious  assembly  shall  arise  to  meet  their  returning 
Lord,  when  this  last  trumpet  sounds,  and  when  he  shall 
come  the  second  time  in  the  full  glories  of  his  person  and 
his  offices,  as  Lord  and  Judge  of  tlie  world,  to  bring 
his  faithful  followers  into  complete  salvation. 

Reflection.  Whensoever,  O  my  soul,  thou  feelest 
any  reluctance  to  obey  the  summons  of  death,  encourage 
thy  faith,  and  scatter  thy  fears,  by  waiting  for  the  call  of 
God  to  a  blessed  resurrection.  Jesus  himself  lay  down 
in  the  grave  at  his  Father's  command,  and  he  arose  with 
joy  at  the  appointed  hour,  as  the  head  of  the  new  cre- 
ation, as  the  first  born  from  the  dead  ;  and  he  has  orders 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION,  357 

given  him  by  the  Father  to  summon  every  saint  from 
their  graves  at  the  long  appointed  hour.  Because  Jesus, 
arose  and  lives,  they  shall  arise  and  live  also.  O  may 
my  flesh  lie  down  in  the  dust  with  all  courage  and  com- 
posure, and  rejoice  to  escape  into  a  place  of  rest  and  si- 
lence, far  away  from  the  noise  and  tumult,  the  hurry 
and  bustle  of  this  present  life ;  being  well  assured  that 
the  next  sound  which  shall  be  heard  is  the  voice  of  the 
Son  of  God,  arise  ye  dead!  Make  haste  then,  O  blessed 
Jesus,  and  finish  thy  divine  work  here  on  earth.  I  lay 
down  my  head  to  sleep  in  the  dust,  waiting  for  thy  call 
to  awake  in  the  morning. 

Observation  VI.  God  takes  delight  in  his  icorks  of 
nature,  hut  much  more  when  they  are  dignified  and 
adorned  by  the  operations  of  divine  grace.  Thou  wilt 
have  a  desire,  saith  the  good  man  in  my  text,  to  the  work 
of  thy  own  hands.  Thou  hast  moulded  me  and  fashioned 
me  at  first  by  thy  power  ;  thou  hast  new  created  me  by 
thy  Spirit,  and  though  thou  hidest  me  for  a  season  in 
one  of  thy  secret  chambers  of  death,  thou  wilt  raise  me 
again  to  light  and  life  ;  and  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God. 

When  the  Almighty  had  created  this  visible  world, 
he  surveyed  his  works  on  the  seventh  day,  and  pronoun- 
ced them  all  good  ;  and  he  took  delight  in  them  all  be- 
fore sin  entered  and  defiled  them.  And  when  he  has 
delivered  the  creatures  of  his  power  from  the  bondage  of 
corruption,  and  has  purged  our  souls  and  our  bodies 
from  sin  and  from  every  evil  principle,  he  will  again 
delight  in  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam,  whom  he 
has  thus  cleansed  and  refined  by  his  sovereign  grace,  and 
has  qualified  and  adorned  them  for  his  own  presence. 
He.  will  sing  and  rejoice  over  them,  and  rest  in  his  love  ; 
Zeph.  iii.  I7. 

He  will  love  to  see  them  with  his  Son  Jesus  at  their 
head,  diffusing  holiness  and  glory  through  all  his  mem- 
bers.   Jesus  the  Redeemer  will  love  to  see  them  round 


358  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

liim,  for  lie  has  bought  them  with  his  blood,  and  they  are 
a  treasure  too  precious  to  be  for  ever  lost.  He  will  re- 
joice to  behold  them  rising  at  his  call  into  a  splendor  like 
his  own,  and  they  shall  he  satisjipd  when  they  awake 
from  death  into  his  likeyiess,  and  appear  in  the  image  of 
his  own  glorious  body,  fit  heirs  for  the  inheritance  of 
heaven,  fit  companions  for  the  blessed  angels  of  light, 
and  prepared  to  dwell  for  ever  with  himself. 

Reflection.  And  shall  not  we  w  ho  are  the  work  of  his 
hands  have  a  desire  to  him  that  made  us  ?  To  him  that 
redeemed  us  ?  To  him  that  has  new  created  and  moulded 
us  into  his  own  likeness  ?  Do  we  not  long  to  see  him  ? 
Have  we  not  a  desire  to  be  with  him,  even  though  we 
should  be  absent  from  the  body  for  a  season?  But  much 
more  should  we  delight  to  think  of  being  present  icitli 
the  Lord,  when  our  whole  natures,  body  and  soul,  shall 
appear  as  the  new  workmanship  of  Almighty  power ;  our 
souls  new  created  in  the  image  of  God,  and  our  bodies 
new  born  from  the  dead,  into  a  life  of  immortality. 

Observation  VII.  The  last  observation  is  of  a  very 
general  nature,  and  spreads  itself  through  all  my  text, 
and  that  is,  hoiv  much  are  ice  indebted  to  God  for  the 
revelation  of  the  J\*ew  Testament,  which  teaches  us  to 
find  out  the  blessings  which  are  contained  in  the  Old, 
and  to  fetch  out  the  glories  and  treasures  which  are  con- 
cealed there  ?  The  writers  of  the  gospel  have  not  only 
pointed  us  to  the  rich  mines  where  these  treasures  lie, 
but  have  brought  forth  many  of  the  jewels  and  set  them 
before  us.  It  is  this  gospel  tliat  brings  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light  by  Jesus  Christ;  2  Tim.  i.  10.  It  is  this 
gospel  tliat  scatters  the  gloom  and  darkness  which  was 
spread  over  the  face  of  tlic  grave,  and  illiminates  all  the 
chambers  of  death.  Who  could  have  found  out  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  contained  in  that  word  of 
grace  given  to  Abraham,  /  am  thy  God,  if  Jesus,  the 
great  Prophet,  had  not  taught  us  to  explain  k  thus  ? 


AND  JOY  AT  THE  RESURRECTION.  359 

Matt.  xxii.  31 ;  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead^  but  of 
the  living. 

We  who  have  the  happiness  to  live  in  the  days  of  the 
Messiah,  know  more  than  all  the  ancient  prophets  were 
acquainted  with,  and  understand  the  word  of  their  pro- 
phecies better  than  they  themselves  ;  for  they  searched 
2chat,  or  what  manner  qj^Mmethe  spirit  of  Christ  which 
ivas  in  thern^  did  signify,  when  it  testified  beforehand 
the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  ivhich  should 
follow  ;  1  Pet.  i.  11.  But  we  read  all  this  fairly  written 
in  the  gospel.  Do  you  think  that  good  David  could 
have  explained  some  of  his  own  Psalms  into  so  divine  a 
sense,  or  Isaiah  given  such  a  briglit  account  of  his  own 
words  of  prophecy,  as  St.  Paul  has  done  in  several 
places  of  the  New  Testament,  where  he  cites  and  unfolds 
them  ?  Could  those  illustrious  ancients  liave  given  us 
such  abundant  consolation  and  hojje  through  the  scrij}- 
tures,  which  they  themselves  wrote  aforetime,  as  this 
Apostle  has  done  ;  Rom.  xv.  4,  Do  you  think  Job 
could  have  read  us  such  a  lecture  on  his  own  expressions 
in  this  text,  or  in  that  briglit  pophecy  in  the  nineteenth 
chapter,  as  the  very  meanest  among  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  can  do  by  the  help  of  the  New  Testament  ?  For 
in  point  of  clear  discoveries  of  divine  trutlis  and  graces, 
the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  is  greater  than 
John  the  Baptist  and  all  the  prophets,  and  our  blessed 
Jesus  has  told  us  so  ;  Matt.  xi.  11,  13.  And  by  the  aid 
and  influences  of  his  Spirit  we  may  be  taught  yet  further 
to  search  into  these  hidden  mines  of  grace,  and  bring 
forth  new  treasures  of  glory. 

Reflection.  Awake,  O  my  soul,  and  ])less  the  Lord 
with  all  thy  powers,  and  give  thanks  with  holy  joy  for 
the  gospel  of  his  Son  Jesus.  It  is  Jesus  by  his  rising 
from  the  dead  has  left  a  divine  light  upon  the  gates  of 
the  grave,  and  scattered  much  of  the  darkness  that  sur- 
rounded it.    It  is  the  gospel  of  Christ  which  casts  a  glory 


360  SAFETY  IN  THE  GRAVE, 

even  upon  the  bed  of  death,  and  spreads  a  brightness 
upon  the  gi'aves  of  the  saints  in  the  lively  views  of  a 
great  rising  day.  O  blessed  and  surprising  prospect  of 
faith  !  0  illustrious  scenes  of  future  vision  and  transport ! 
When  the  Son  of  God  shall  bring  forth  to  public  view 
all  his  redeemed  ones,  \vho  had  been  long  hidden  in 
night  and  dust,  and  shair^r^iipit  them  all  to  God  the 
Father  in  his  own  image,  brigtit  and  holy,  and  unblem- 
ished, in  the  midst  of  all  the  splendors  of  the  resurrec- 
tion !  O  blessed  and  joyful  voice,  when  he  shall  say 
with  divine  pleasure,  '*  Here  am  /,  and  the  children 
which  thou  hast  given  me.  We  have  both  passed 
through  the  grave,  and  I  have  made  them  all  conquerors 
of  death,  and  vested  them  with  immortality  according  to 
thy  divine  commission !  Thine  the.ij  were,  O  Father,  and 
thou  hast  given  them  into  my  hands,  and  behold  I  have 
brought  them  all  safe  to  thy  appointed  mansions,  and  I 
present  them  before  thee  without  spot  or  blemish." 

And  many  a  parent  of  a  pious  household  in  that  day, 
when  they  shall  see  their  sons  and  their  daughters  around 
tliem,  all  arrayed  with  the  beams  of  the  Sun  of  rigteous- 
ness,  shall  echo  with  holy  joy  to  the  voice  of  the  blessed 
Jesus,  ^'  Lord^  here  am  I  and  the  children  which  thou  hast 
given  me.  I  was  afraid,  as  Job  once  might  be  when  his 
friends  suggested  this  fear ;  I  was  afraid  that  my  children 
had  sinned  against  God,  and  he  had  cast  them  away  for 
their  transgression.  But  I  am  now  convinced,  when 
he  seized  them  from  my  sight,  he  only  took  them  out  of 
the  way  of  temptation  and  danger,  and  concealed  them 
for  a  season  in  his  safe  hiding  place.  I  mourned  in  the 
daytime  for  a  lost  son  or  a  lost  daughter,  and  in  the 
night  my  couch  was  bedewed  with  my  tears.  I  was 
scared  with  midnight  dreams  on  their  account,  and  the 
visions  of  the  grave  terrified  me  because  my  children 
were  there.  I  gave  up  myself  to  sorrow  for  fear  of  the 
displeasure  of  my  God,  both  against  them  and  against 


A  SPEECH  OVER  A  GRAVE.  861 

me.  But  how  unreasonable  were  these  sorrows  ?  How 
groundless  were  my  fears  ?  How  gloriously  am  I  disap- 
pointed this  blessed  morning?  I  see  my  dear  offspring 
called  out  of  that  long  retreat  where  God  had  concealed 
them,  and  they  arise  to  meet  the  divine  call.  I  hear 
them  answering  with  joy  to  the  happy  summons.  My 
eyes  behold  them  risen  in  the  image  of  my  God  and 
their  God  ;  they  are  near  me,  tJiey  stand  with  me  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Judge  ;  now  shall  we  rejoice  together 
in  the  sentence  of  eternal  blessedness  from  the  lips  of  my 
Lord  and  their  Lord,  my  Redeemer  and  their  Redeem- 
er."    Amen, 


A  SPEECH  OVER  A  GRAVE. 

Among  my  papers  I  have  found  a  speech  spoken  at  a, 
grave,  wliicii  I  transcribed  almost  fifty  years  ago,  and 
which  deserves  to  be  saved  from  perishing.  It  was 
pronounced  many  years  before,  at  the  funeral  of  a 
pious  person,  by  a  minister  there  present,  supposed 
to  be  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peter  S  perry  ;  and  the  subject 
of  it  being  suited  to  this  discourse,  I  thought  it  not 
improper  to  preserve  it  here. 

^^  CHRISTIAN  friends,  though  sin  be  entered  into 
the  world,  and  by  sin  death,  and  so  death  passed  upon 
all  men,  for  tliat  all  have  sinned  ;  yet  it  seems  not  wholly 
suitable  to  our  christian  hope,  to  stand  by  and  see  the 
grave  with  open  mouth  take  ?n,  and  swallow  down  any 
part  of  a  precious  saint,  and  not  bring  some  testimony 
against  the  devourer.  And  yet  that  our  witness  may  be 
in  righteousness,  we  must  first  own,  acknowledge,  and 
accept  of  that  good  and  serviceableness  that  is  in  it. 
^•For  tiirougii  the  death  and  resurrection  of  our  dear 

Redeemer,  death  and  the  grave  are  become  sweetened 
46 


363  A  SPEECH  OVER  A  GRAVE. 

to  US,  and  sanctified  for  us.  So  that  as  death  is  but  a 
sleep,  the  grave  through  his  lying  down  in  it  and  rising 
again,  is  become  as  a  bed  of  repose  to  them  that  are  in 
him,  and  a  safe  and  quiet  hiding  place  for  his  saints  till 
the  resurrection. 

•^And  in  this  respect  we  do  for  ourselves,  and  for 
this  our  dearly  beloved  in  the  Lord,  accept  of  thee,  O 
grave,  and  readily  deliver  up  her  body  to  thee  ;  it  is  a 
body  that  hath  been  weakened  and  wearied  with  long 
affliction  and  anguish,  we  freely  give,  it  unto  thee;  re- 
ceive it,  and  let  it  have  in  thee  a  quiet  rest  from  all  its  la- 
bors; for  thus  we  read  it  written  of  thee,  there  the  wicked 
cease  from  troubling^  and  there  the  weary  be  at  rest. 

"  Besides,  it  is,  O  grave,  a  body  that  hath  been  sweet- 
ly embalmed  by  a  virtuous,  pious,  peaceable  conversa- 
tion, by  several  inward  openings  and  outpourings  of  the 
spirit  of  life,  by  much  patience  and  meekness  in  strong 
trials  and  afflictions.  Receive  it,  and  let  it  enjoy  in 
thee,  what  was  once  deeply  impressed  on  her  own  heart, 
and  in  a  due  season  written  out  with  her  own  hand,  a 
sjabbath  in  the  grave.  For  thus  also  we  find  it  recorded 
of  our  Lord  and  her  Lord,  that  he  enjoyed  the  rest  of 
his  last  sabbath  in  the  grave. 

^^  But  we  know  tliee,  O  grave,  to  be  also  a  devourer, 
and  yet  we  can  freely  deliver  up  the  body  into  thee. 
There  was  in  it  a  contracted  corruptibility,  dishonor  and 
weakness  ;  take  them  as  thy  proper  prey,  they  belong 
to  thee,  and  we  would  not  withhold  them  from  thee. 
Freely  swallow  them  up  for  ever,  that  they  may  appear 
no  more. 

*^  Yet  know,  O  grave,  there  is  in  the  body,  considered 
as  once  united  to  such  a  soul,  a  divine  relation  to  the 
Lord  of  life  ;  and  this  thou  must  not,  thou  canst  not 
dissolve  or  destroy.  But  know,  and  even  before  thee, 
and  over  thee  be  it  spoken,  that  there  is  a  season  hast- 
ening wherein  we  shall  expect  it  again  from  thee  in  in- 
corruption,  honor  and  power. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PUNISHMENTS  IN  HELL.  S63 

*^  We  now  sow  it  into  thee  in  dishonor,  but  expect  it 
again  returned  from  thee  in  glory  ;  we  now  sow  it  into 
thee  in  weakness,  we  expect  it  again  in  power  ;  we  now 
sow  it  into  thee  a  natural  body,  we  look  for  it  again 
from  thee  a  spiritual  body. 

"And  when  thou  has  fulfilled  that  end  for  which  the 
Prince  of  life,  who  took  thee  captive,  made  thee  to  serve, 
then  shalt  thou  who  hast  devoured,  be  thyself  also 
swallowed  up,  for  thus  it  is  written  of  thee,  O  death,  I 
will  he  thy  plague,  O  grave,  I  icill  he  thy  destruction. 
And  then  shall  we  sing  over  thee  what  also  is  written 
of  thee,  0  death,  where  is  now  thy  sting  9  0  grave 
where  is  now  thy  victory  f  Amen. 

J\ote.  A  line  or  two  is  altered  in  this  speech,  to  suit  it  more  to   the  under- 
standing and  the  sense  of  the  present  age. 


DISCOURSE  XII. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PUNISHMENTS  IN 

HELL. 

MARK  ix  46. 

Where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched. 

INTRODUCTION. 

THESE  words  are  a  short  description  of  hell,  by 
the  lips  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  came  down  from  heaven. 
And  he  who  lay  in  the  bosom  of  his  Father,  and  was 
intimate  in  all  the  councils  of  his  mercy  and  justice,  must 
be  supposed  to  know  what  the  terrors  and  the  wrath  of 
God  are,  as  well  as  his  compassion  and  his  goodness. 


364  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

It  is  confessed  J  that  a  discourse  on  this  dreadful  sub- 
ject is  not  a  direct  ministration  of  grace  and  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation,  yet  it  has  a  great  and  happy  ten- 
dency to  the  same  end,  even  the  salvation  of  sinful  men  ; 
for  it  awakens  them  to  a  more  piercing  sight,  and  to  a 
more  keen  sensation  of  their  own  guilt  and  danger  :  it 
possesses  their  spirits  with  a  more  lively  sense  of  their 
misery,  it  fills  them  with  a  holy  dread  of  divine  punish- 
ment, and  excites  tfie  powerful  passion  of  fear  to  make 
them  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  betake  themselves 
to  the  grace  of  God  revealed  in  the  gospel. 

The  blessed  Saviour  himself,  who  was  the  most  per- 
fect image  of  liis  Father's  love,  and  the  prime  minister 
of  his  grace,  pul)lishes  more  of  tliese  terrors  to  the  world, 
ami  preaches  hell  and  damnation  to  sinners  more  than 
all  the  prophets  or  teachers  tliat  ever  went  before  him  ; 
and  several  of  the  apostles  imitate  their  Lord  in  this 
practice.  They  kindle  the  flames  of  hell  in  their  epis- 
tles, they  thunder  through  the  very  hearts  and  conscien- 
ces of  men  with  the  voice  of  damnation  and  eternal  mis- 
ery,  to  make  stupid  sinners  feel  as  much  of  these  terrors 
in  the  present  prospect  as  is  possible,  in  order  to  escape 
the  actual  sensation  of  them  in  time  to  come. 

Such  awful  discourses  are  many  times  also  of  excel- 
lent use  to  keep  the  children  of  God,  and  the  disciples 
of  Jesus,  in  a  holy  and  watchful  frame,  and  to  aifright 
them  from  returning  to  sin  and  folly,  and  from  the  in- 
dulgence  of  any  temptation,  by  setting  these  terrors  of 
the  Lord  before  their  eyes.  O  may  these  words  of  his 
terror,  from  the  lips  of  one  of  the  meanest  of  his  minis- 
ters, be  attended  with  divine  power  from  the  convincing 
and  sanctifying  Spirit,  that  they  may  answer  these  happy 
ends  and  purposes,  that  they  may  excite  a  solemn  rev- 
erence of  the  dreadful  majesty  of  God  in  all  our  souls, 
and  awaken  us  to  repentance  for  every  sin,  and  a  more 
^vatchful  course  of  holiness ! 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  365 

Let  US  then  consider  the  expression  in  my  text.  When 
our  Saviour  mentions  the  word  hell,  he  adds  where  their 
worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched  ;  in  which 
description  we  may  read  the  nature  of  this  punishment, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  it. 

First.  We  shall  consider  the  nature  of  this  punish-^ 
ment,  as  it  is  represented  by  the  metaphors  which  our 
Saviour  uses  ;  and  if  I  were  to  give  the  most  natural  and 
proper  sense  of  this  representation,  I  would  say  that 
our  Saviour  might  borrow  this  figure  of  speech  from 
these  three  considerations. 

1.  Worms  and  fire  are  the  two  most  general  ways 
nvhereby  the  bodies  of  the  dead  are  destroyed  ;  for 
whether  they  are  buried  or  not  buried,  worms  devour 
those  who,  by  the  custom  of  their  country,  are  not  burnt 
with  fire ;  and  perhaps  he  might  refer  to  the  words  of 
Isaiah  Ixvi.  24,  where  the  prophet  seems  to  foretell 
the  punishment  ot  those  who  will  not  receive  the  gospel 
when  it  shall  be  preached  to  all  nations.  They,  says 
he,  (that  is  the  true  Israel,  the  saints  of  God,  or  chris- 
tians,) they  shall  go  forth  and  look  upon  the  carcasses  of 
the  men  who  have  transgressed  against  me,  for  their  icorm 
shall  not  die,  neither  shall  their  fire  he  quenched^  and 
they  shall  he  an  abhorrence  to  all  fiesh.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  this  is  only  a  metaphor  referring  to  the 
punishment  of  the  souls  of  obstinate  unbelievers  in  hell, 
for  it  would  be  but  a  very  small  punishment  indeed,  if 
only  their  dead  bodies  were  devoured  by  worms  or  fire, 
or  rather  no  punishment  at  all  besides  a  memorial  of 
their  sin. 

2.  Consider  the  gnawing  of  worms  and  the  burning 
of  fire  are  some  of  the  most  smart  and  severe  torments  that 
a  living  man  can  feel  in  the  flesh ;  therefore  the  ven- 
geance of  God,  upon  the  souls  of  obstinate  sinners,  is 
set  forth  by  it  in  our  Saviour's  discourse ;  and  it  was 
probably  well  known  amongst  the  Jews,  as  appears  by 


36§  THE  NATURE  OP  THE 

some  of  the  Apocryphal  writings  :  Judith  xvi.  17;  ^^  Wo 
to  the  nation  that  rises  up  against  my  kindred ;  the 
Lord  Almighty  will  take  vengeance  of  them  in  the  day 
of  judgment,  putting  fire  and  worms  in  their  flesh,  and 
they  shall  feel  them  and  weep  for  ever."  And  Eccles. 
vii.  16,  17  ;  ^'Number  not  thyself  among  the  multitude  of 
sinners,  but  remember  the  wrath  will  not  tarry  long. 
Humble  thy  soul  greatly,  for  the  vengeance  of  the  un- 
godly is  fire  and  worms." 

3.  Consider  whether  worms  feed  upon  a  living  man 
or  devour  his  dead  body,  still  they  are  such  as  are  bred 
irt  his  own  flesh  ;  butflre  is  brought  by  other  hands,  and 
applied  to  the  flesh.  Even  so  this  metaphor  of  a  worm 
liappily  represents  the  inward  torments  and  the  teasing 
and  vexing  jiassions  which  shall  arise  in  the  souls  of 
those  unhappy  creatures,  who  are  the  just  objects  of  this 
punishment ;  and  it  is  called  their  worm,  that  worm 
that  belongs  to  them,  and  is  bred  within  them  by  the 
foul  vices  and  diseases  of  their  souls.  But  the  fi,re 
which  shall  never  be  quenched^  refers  rather  to  the  pains 
and  anguish  which  come  from  without^  and  that  chiefly 
from  the  hand  of  God,  the  righteous  avenger  of  sin,  and 
from  his  indignation,  which  is  compared  to  fire. 

SECTION  L 

The  worm  that  dieth  not. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  first  of  these,  viz.  the  torments 
which  are  derived  from  the  gnawing  worm,  those  ago- 
nies and  uneasy  passions  which  will  arise  and  work  in 
the  souls  of  these  wretched  creatures,  so  far  as  we  can 
collect  them  from  the  word  of  God,  from  the  reason  of 
things,  and  the  working  powers  of  human  nature. 

When  an  impenitent  sinner  is  cast  into  hell,  we  have 
abundant  reason  to  suppose,  that  the  evil  leraper  of  his 
isoul,  and   the   vicious  principles  within  him,  are   not 


iPUNISH]VrBNTS  OF  HELL.  367 

abated ;  but  his  natural  powers,  and  the  vices  which 
have  tainted  them  and  mingle  with  them,  are  awakened 
and  enraged  into  intense  activity  and  exercise,  under  the 
first  sensations  of  his  dreadful  punishment.  Let  us  en- 
deavor to  conceive  then  what  would  be  the  ferments,  the 
raging  passions,  and  the  vexing  inward  torments  of  a 
wicked  man,  seized  by  the  officers  of  an  Almighty 
Judge,  borne  away  by  the  executioners  of  vengeance, 
and  plunged  into  a  pit  of  torture  and  smarting  misery, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  had  a  most  fresh  and  piercing 
conviction  ever  present,  that  he  had  brought  all  this 
mischief  upon  himself  by  his  own  guilt  and  folly. 

I.  The  first  particular  piece  of  wretchedness  therefore 
contained  in  this  metaphor,  is  the  remorse  and  terrible 
anguish  of  conscience  ichich  shall  never  he  relieved. 
How  terrible  are  the  racks  of  a  guilty  conscience  here 
on  earth,  which  arise  from  a  sense  of  past  sins  ?  How 
does  David  cry  out  and  roar  under  the  disquietude  of 
his  spirit  ?  Psalm  xxxii.  3  ;  "  While  I  kept  silence" 
and  confessed  not  mine  iniquity,  ^*  my  bones  waxed  old 
through  my  roaring  all  the  day  long  ;  day  and  niglit  thy 
hand  was  heavy  upon  me ;  and  my  moisture  is  turned 
into  the  drought  of  summer."  And  again.  Psalm 
xxxviii.  4;  "Mine  iniquities  are  gone  over  mine  head, 
as  an  heavy  burden  ;  they  are  too  heavy  for  me."  God 
has  Avisely  so  framed  the  nature  and  spirit  of  man,  that 
a  reflection  on  Jiis  past  misbehavior  should  raise  such 
keen  anguish  at  his  heart ;  and  thousands  have  felt  it  in 
a  dreadful  degree,  even  while  they  have  continued  in 
this  world,  in  the  land  of  life  and  hope. 

But  when  death  has  divided  the  soul  from  this  body, 
and  from  all  the  means  of  grace,  and  cut  off  all  the  hopes 
of  pardoning  mercy  for  ever,  w  hat  smart  beyond  all  our 
thoughts  and  expressions,  must  the  sinner  feel  from 
such  inward  wounds  of  conscience  ?  And  it  gives  a 
twinging  accent  to  every  sorrow  when  the  sinner  is  con- 


368  THE  NATURE  OP  THE 

strained  to  cry  out,  '^'  It  is  1,  it  is  I  who  have  brought 
all  tills  upon  myself.  Life  and  death  were  set  before 
me  in  the  world  where  I  once  dwelt,  but  I  refused  the 
blessings  of  eternal  life,  and  the  oifers  of  saving  grace. 
I  turned  my  back  upon  the  ways  of  holiness  which  led 
to  life,  and  renounced  the  tenders  of  divine  mercy.  I 
chose  the  paths  of  sin,  and  folly,  and  madness,  though 
I  knew  thev^,  led  to  everlasting  misery  and  death. 
Wretch  thaHT  was,  to  choose  those  sins  and  these  sor- 
rows, though  I  knew  they  were  necessarily  joined 
together  !  1  am  sent  into  those  regions  of  misery  which 
I  chose  for  myself,  against  all  the  kind  admonitions  and 
warnings  of  God  and  Christ,  of  his  gospel  and  his  min- 
isters of  grace  !  0  these  cursed  eyes  of  mine,  that  led 
me  into  the  snares  of  guilt  and  folly  !  These  cursed 
hands  that  practised  iniquity  with  greediness  !  These 
cursed  lips  of  mine,  which  dishonored  my  Maker  !  O 
these  cursed  appetites  and  passions,  and  this  obstinate 
will,  which  iiave  wrought  my  ruin !  This  cursed  body 
and  soul,  that  have  procured  their  own  everlasting 
wretchedness  !"  These  thoughts  will  be  like  a  gnaw- 
ing worm  v/ithin,  which  will  prey  upon  the  spirit  for 
ever.  The  fretting  smart  arising  from  this  vexatious 
worm,  must  be  painful  in  the  highest  extreme,  when  we 
know  it  is  a  worm  which  will  never  die,  which  will  for 
ever  hang  at  our  heart,  and  sting  our  vitals  in  the  most 
tender  and  sensible  parts  of  them  without  intermission, 
as  well  as  without  end. 

Here  on  earth  the  stings  and  scourges  of  conscience 
meet  with  some  intervals  of  relief,  from  necessary  busi- 
ness which  employs  the  mind,  from  gay  company  which 
diverts  the  heart,  from  the  refreshments  of  nature  by 
day,  or  from  the  sweet  repose  of  the  returning  night. 
But  in  the  world  to  come,  every  hour  shall  be  filled  up 
with  these  cutting  sorrows,  for  there  is  no  season  of  re- 
freshment, no  diversion  of  mind,  uo  sleeping  there.     All 


PUNISHMENTS  IN  HELL,  369 

things  are  for  ever  a^ake  in  that  world.  There  are  no 
shadows  and  darkness  to  hide  us  where  this  torment 
shall  not  find  us,  for  it  is  bred  and  lives  within.  There 
is  no  couch  there  to  lull  the  conscience  into  soft  repose, 
and  to  permit  the  sufferer  to  forget  his  agonies.  Ancient 
crimes  shall  rise  up  and  stand  for  ever  before  the  eyes  of 
the  sinner  in  all  their  glaring  forms,  and  all  their  heinous 
aggravating  circumstances.  Tliese  will  sit  heavy  upon 
the  spirit  with  teasing  and  eternal  vexation.  O  dread- 
ful state  of  an  immortal  creature,  which  must  for  ever  be 
its  own  tormentor,  and  shall  know  no  relief  through  all 
the  ages  of  its  immortality  !  Think  of  this  bitter  anguish 
of  soul,  O  sinner,  to  guard  thee  from  sin  in  an  hour  of 
strong  temptation. 

II.  Another  spring  of  this  torment  will  be  the  over' 
whelming  sense  of  an  angry  God,  and  utter  despair  of 
his  love  which  is  lost  for  ever.  It  was  the  thought  of 
the  displeasure  of  God,  which  pierced  the  soul  of  David 
with  such  acute  pain,  when  he  remembered  his  sins  ; 
Psalm  li.  3.  4- ;  My  sin  is  ever  before  me.  Against  thee, 
against  thee  only  have  I  sinned,  and  I  have  done  this 
evil  in  thy  sight.  Antl  again  he  pleads  with  God,  Psalm 
vi.  1  ;  O  Lord,  chasten  me  not  in  thine  anger,  nor  vex 
me  in  thy  sore  displeasure.  He  could  face  an  host  of 
armed  men  without  fear,  but  he  could  not  face  an  angry 
God,  whose  loving  kindness  is  life,  and  the  loss  of  whose 
love  is  worse  than  death.  Psalm  Ixxvii.  3  ;  1  remem- 
bered God,  said  he,  and  was  troubled  ;  that  is,  lest  he 
should  be  favorable  no  more,  and  shut  up  his  tender  mer- 
cies in  everlasting  anger.  This  was  the  terror  of  that 
good  man,  under  a  deep  sense  of  his  crimes,  and  of  God 
hiding  his  face  from  him;  and  this  even  while  he  was 
in  the  land  of  the  living,  and  was  not  cast  out  beyond 
all  hope. 

Rut  when  the  grave  shuts  its  mouth  on   the  sinner, 
and  he  is  thrust  out  into  utter  darkaess;  where  the  light 
47 


370  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

of  God's  countenance  never  shines,  nor  will  shine,  how 
insupportable  must  such  anguish  be  ? 

Here  in  this  life  perliaps  a  profane  wre+ch  has  ima- 
gined he  could  live  well  enougli  without  God  in  the 
world,  and  was  content  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  hira 
in  a  way  of  worship  or  dependance  here.  He  deter- 
mined with  himself,  that  the  less  he  could  think  of  God, 
the  better  ;  and  so  forgot  his  Maker  days  without  num- 
ber. But  in  those  regions  of  hell,  whither  the  sinner 
sliall  be  driven,  he  can  never  forget  an  angry  God,  nor 
fly  out  of  tlie  reach  of  his  terrors. 

^^  I  am  now  convinced,''  saitii  he,  "  but  too  late,  tliat 
happiness  dwells  in  his  presence,  and  rivers  of  pleasures 
flow  at  his  right  hand;  but  this  happiness  I  shall  never 
see,  these  streams  of  pleasure  1  shall  never  taste  ;  he  is 
gone  for  ever  with  all  his  love  and  with  all  his  blessings  ; 
God  is  gone  with  all  his  graces  and  pardons  beyond  my 
reach.  He  stands  afar  oif  from  my  groanings.  He  told 
me  of  it  heretofore  in  the  ministry  of  his  word  ;  but, 
wretch  tliat  I  was  !  I  would  not  hearken,  I  would  not 
believe.  I  was  invited  by  the  Son  of  his  love  to  receive 
his  gospel,  and  to  partake  of  forgiving  mercy ;  he 
stretched  out  his  hands  with  divine  compassion,  and 
oifered  to  receive  my  soul  to  his  grace,  and  to  wash  away 
my  defilements  with  his  own  blood  ;  he  beseeched  me 
to  repent  and  return  to  God,  and  assured  me  he  would 
secure  his  Father's  favor  to  me,  and  a  place  among  the 
mansions  of  his  glory.  But  cursed  rebel  that  I  M^as,  to 
despise  tliis  salvation,  and  resist  the  offers  of  such  love, 
and  to  renounce  such  divine  compassion  !  These  offers 
of  mercy  are  for  ever  finished  ;  I  shall  never  see  him 
more  as  surrounded  with  the  blessings  of  his  grace,  but 
as  the  minister  of  his  Fathei-'s  justice,  and  the  avenger 
of  his  abused  mercy.  There  is  no  other  Saviour,  no 
other  Intercessor,  to  procure  divine  favor  for  me  :  and 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HFIJ,.  S^l 

my  hopes  are  overwhelmed  and  buried  in  the  eternal 
despair  of  his  love.'' 

III.  There  will  be  found  also  among  the  damned,  a 
constant   enmity,  and  malice,  and  hatred   against  the 
blessed  God,  which  can  never  satisfy  nor  ease  itself  by 
revenge.     It  seems  very  strange  indeed,  that  a  creature 
should  design  revenge  against  his  Maker  ;  but  thus  it  is 
in  these  dismal  regions  of  hell.     Every  wicked  man  is 
by  nature  at  enmity  with  God,  and  in  a  state  of  rebellion  ; 
and  when  this  enmity  is  wrought  up  to  malice,  under  a 
sense  of  his  punishing  hand,  then  arises  that  cursed  and 
detestible  desire  in  the  soul  of  revenging  itself  against  its 
Maker.     The  fallen  angels,  those  wicked  spirits,  have 
found   this  dismal  temper  of  mind  reigning  in  them. 
They  hate  the  blessed  God  with  intense  malice,  because 
his  governing  justice  sees  fit  to  punish  their  pride  and 
other  iniquities  ;  and  they  would  fain  be  revenged   of 
liim  by  destroying  mankind  who  were  made  after  his 
image.     Their  malice  cannot  reach  him  in  the  heights  of 
his  glory  ;  but  they  can  reach  man  his  creature,  made  in 
his  likeness  ;  and  they  began  to  take  their  revenge  there 
near  six  thousand  years  ago.     All  the  sins,  and  all  the 
miseries  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world  to  this  day,  are  owing  to  this 
madness  of  malice,  this  hatred  of  God  in  the  hearts  of 
evil  angels,  who  were  cast  out  from  heaven  and  the  re- 
gions of  happiness.     They  began  to  exert  this  malice 
early  ;  and  still  they  are  everlasting  tempters  of  men, 
in  order  to  avenge  themselves  upon  a  righteous  God. 

But  alas !  what  a  wretched  satisfaction  must  the 
damned  spirits  of  men  propose  to  themselves  in  such  a 
wild  and  extravagant  attempt?  The  very  name  and 
mention  of  this  iniquity  seems  to  put  our  souls  and  our 
ears  to  pain,  while  we  dwell  in  flesh  and  blood  ;  but  as 
cursed  and  hateful  a  temper  as  this  is,  it  is  the  very 
spirit  and  temper  of  apostate  angels ;  and  this  will  be 


S7f^  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

thy  temper  and  tliy  spirit,  O  wilful  and  impenitent  sin- 
ner, when  thou  shalt  have  obstinately  sinned  thyself 
into  damnation,  and  canst  never  deliver  thyself  from  the 
punishing  hand  of  God. 

Think,  O  my  soul,  at  what  a  dreadful  distance  such 
creatures  must  be  from  every  glimpse  of  peace  and  hap- 
piness, whose  hearts  are  filled  w  itli  such  blasphemy  and 
rage,  and  who  w ould  be  attempting  such  vain  and  impi- 
ous efforts  of  mingled  insolence  and  madness.  Read, 
O  ye  foolish  and  wilful  ti-ansgressors,  read  the  temper 
and  conduct  of  devils  in  their  spite  and  opposition  to 
every  thing  of  God,  through  all  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New,  and  remember  and  think,  that 
such  will  your  temper  be,  when  you  also  shall  be  ban- 
ished from  the  presence  of  God  for  your  wilful  rebellions, 
as  the  fallen  angels  are,  and  be  for  ever  shut  out  from 
all  the  blessings  of  his  love,  and  all  hope  of  his  favor. 

IV.  A  further  spring  of  continued  torment  is  such 
fixed  and  eternal  hardness  of  heart,  as  will  never  be  soft- 
enedy  such  impenitence  and  ohstinacy  of  soul  which  will 
vever  relent  or  submit.  The  hardest  sinner  here  on 
earth  may  now  and  then  feel  a  relenting  moment ;  and 
the  most  daring  atiieist  may  sometimes  have  a  softening 
tliought  come  across  him,  which  may  perhaps  bring  a 
tear  into  his  eyps,  and  may  form  a  good  wish  or  two  in 
liis  soul,  and  wring  a  groan  from  his  heart  which  looks 
like  repentance  ;  but  when  we  are  dismissed  from  this 
body,  and  this  state  of  trial  and  of  hope,  eternal  [lardness 
seizes  upon  the  mind.  The  neck  is  like  an  iron  sinew 
hardened  more,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  in  the  fire  of  hell. 
The  will  is  fixed  in  everlasting  obstinacy  against  God, 
and  against  the  glories  of  his  holiness.  If  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  if  i  hrjst  and  his  apostles,  in  the  ministry 
of  the  word,  could  not  soften  the  heart  of  bold  transgress- 
ors, what  can  be  expected  when  all  the  means  of  grace, 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL,  373 

and  the  methods  of  divine  compassion  are  vanished  and 
gone  for  ever  ? 

It  is  granted,  indeed,  there  vvdll  be  bitter  repentance 
among  the  damned  in  hell,  and  in^^ard  vexation  uf  j-oul 
and  self-cursing  in  abundance,  for  having  plunged  them- 
selves into  this  misery,  and  having  abandoned  all  the 
otters  of  divine  mercy.  But  it  will  be  only  such  a  re- 
pentance as  Judas  the  traitor  felt,  when  he  rpjjented  and 
hanged  himself.  This  is  a  sort  of  madness  of  rage 
within  them  for  having  made  themselves  miserable.  But 
there  will  be  found  no  hatred  of  the  evil  of  sin,  as  it  is  an 
offence  against  God,  no  painful  and  relenting  sense  of 
their  iniquity,  as  it  has  dishonored  God,  and  broken  his 
law,  no  such  sorrow  for  sin  as  is  attended  with  an  hearty 
aversion  to  it,  and  a  desire  to  love  God  and  ob,ey  him  ; 
but  rather  they  will  feel  and  nourish  a  growing  aversion 
to  God  and  his  holiness. 

Ask  yourselves,  my  young  friends,  did  yo^i  never  feel 
your  hearts  indulging  an  angry  and  unrelenting  mood, 
and  stubborn  in  your  wrath  against  a  superior  who  had 
sharply  reproved  you  ?  Or  have  you  never  felt  an  ob- 
stinate and  unreconcilable  hour  in  your  younger  years, 
even  against  a  parent  who  had  severely  corrected  you  ? 
Or  have  you  not  found  at  some  seasons,  your  soul  rising 
and  kindling  into  violent  resentment  and  a  revengeful 
temper  against  your  neighbor,  upon  some  supposed 
aft ront,  damage,  or  mischief,  he  had  done  you?  Call 
these  unhappy  minutes  to  mind,  and  learn  what  hell  is. 
Think  into  what  a  wretched  case  you  would  be  plunged, 
if  this  wrath  and  stubbornness,  this  enmity  and  hardness 
should  become  immortal  and  unchangeable,  though  it 
were  but  against  a  neighbor.  But  if  this  obstinacy  and 
stubborn  hardness  of  soul  were  bent  against  God  himself, 
so  that  you  would  never  relent,  never  sincerely  repent 
of  your  crimes,  nor  bow,  nor  melt,  nor  yield  either  to  his 
majesty  or  his  mercy,  what  would  you  think  of  your- 


374i  THE  NATURE  OP  THE 

selves  and  of  your  state  ?  Would  you  not  be  wretched 
and  horrible  creatures  indeed^  without  the  least  reason 
to  hope  for  favor  and  compassion  at  his  hands?  Such 
is  the  case  probably  of  every  damned  sinner.  Amazir>g 
scene  of  complicated  misery  and  rebellion  1  A  guilty 
spirit  which  cannot  repent !  A  rebellious  spirit  which 
cannot  submit,  even  to  God  himself  !  A  liardened  soul 
that  cannot  bend  nor  yield  to  its  Maker  !  Must  not 
such  a  wretch  be  for  ever  tlie  object  of  its  own  inward 
torment,  as  well  as  of  divine  punishment  ?  O  the  hope- 
less and  dreadful  state  of  every  bold  transgressor,  that  is 
gone  down  to  death  without  true  repentance  ;  for  sincere 
and  true  repentance  for  having  offended  God,  and  ingen- 
uous relentiugs  of  heart  for  sin,  are  never  found  in  those 
regions  of  future  misery  !  No  kindly  meltings  of  soul 
toward  God,  are  ever  known  there. 

V.  There  wdll  be  also  intense  sorrow  and  wild  impa- 
tience at  the  loss  of  present  comforts,  without  any  recom- 
pense,  and  without  any  relief  If  this  world,  O  sinful 
creature,  with  the  riches,  or  the  honors,  or  the  pleasures 
of  it  be  all  thy  chosen  happiness,  what  universal  grief 
and  vexation  will  overspread  all  the  powers  of  thy  nature, 
when  thou  shalt  be  torn  away  from  them  all,  even  from 
all  thy  happiness  by  death,  and  have  nothing  come  in 
the  room  of  them,  nothing  to  relieve  thy  piercing  grief, 
nothing  to  divert  or  amuse  this  vexation,  nothing  to  sooth 
or  ease  this  eternal  pain  at  the  heart? 

And  yet  farther,  when  thou  shalt  be  as  the  prophet 
speaks,  like  a  ivild  hull  in  a  net,  struggling  and  tossing 
to  and  fro  to  free  thyself  on  all  sides,  when  thou  shalt 
be  racked  with  inward  fretfulness  and  impatience,  and 
full  of  the  fury  of  the  Lord  that  made  thee,  and  the  re- 
buke of  that  God  that  punishes  thee ;  Isa.  li.  30  ;  then 
shall  thy  heart,  hard  as  it  is  in  an  obstinate  course  of  sin, 
be  ready  to  burst  and  break,  not  with  penitence,  but 
madness  and  over-swelling  sorrows.     And  yet  it  must 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  IlfcLL.  37^ 

not  break  nor  dissolve,  but  will  remain  firm  and  hard 
for  ever  to  suifer  these  pangs.  This  is  and  must  be  an 
eternal  heart-ache,  for  there  are  no  broken  hearts  in  hell 
in  any  sense  whatsoever.  There  the  eyes  are  weeping, 
and  the  hands  are  wringing,  and  the  tongue  almost  dried 
with  long  wailings  and  outcries,  and  the  teeth  gnashing 
with  madness  of  thought.  This  is  our  Saviour's  fre- 
quent representation  of  hell,  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
wailing;  and  gnashing  of  teeth  ;  and  yet  the  heart  ever 
living  and  ever  obstinate,  to  supply  fresh  springs  of  these 
sorrows,  and  to  feel  the  anguish  of  them  all. 

VI.  There  will  be  also  ras,ing  desires  of  ease  and 
pleasure  ichich  shall  never  be  satisfied,  together  with 
perpetual  disappointment  and  endless  confusion  thrown 
upon  all  their  schemes  and  their  efforts  of  hope.  It  is 
the  nature  of  man,  while  it  continues  in  being,  that  it 
must  desire  happiness,  and  make  some  efforts  towards  it. 
And  some  divines  have  supposed,  that  men  of  wicked 
sensuality  and  luxury  in  this  world,  have  so  drenched 
their  souls  in  fleshly  appetite  by  indulging  their  lusts,  and 
placing  their  chief  satisfaction  and  happiness  therein, 
that  they  will  carry  this  very  temper  of  sensuality  with 
them  into  the  world  of  spirits ;  and  it  is  possible  their 
raging  appetites  to  this  sensual  happiness,  may  be  in- 
creased while  there  are  no  objects  to  gratify  them.  Now 
if  this  be  the  case,  it  must  be  intense  and  constant  misery 
to  feel  eternal  hunger  with  no  bread  to  relieve  it ;  keen 
desire  of  dainties  with  no  luxurious  dishes  to  please  their 
humorous  taste  ;  eternal  thirst  without  one  drop  of  wine 
or  water  to  allay  or  cool  it ;  eternal  fatigue  and  weari- 
ness without  power  to  sleep,  and  eternal  lust  of  pleasure 
without  any  hope  of  gratification. 

But  if  we  should  suppose  these  sensualities  die  together 
with  the  body,  yet  this  is  certain,  the  soul  will  have 
everlasting  appetites  of  its  own ;  that  is,  the  general  de- 
sire of  ease  and  happiness,  and  of  some  satisfying  good : 


S76  ^  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

but  God,  who  is  the  only  true  source  of  happiness  to 
spirits,  the  only  satisfying  portion  of  souls,  is  for  ever 
departed  aud  gone ;  and  thus  tlie  natural  appetite  of  fe- 
licity will  be  ever  wakeful  and  violent  in  damned  spirits, 
while  every  attempt  or  hope  to  satisfy  it  will  meet  with 
perpetual  disappointment. 

Milton,  our  English  poet,  has  represented  this  part  of 
the  misery  of  devils  in  a  beautiful  manner.  He  supposes, 
that  ever  since  they  tempted  man  by  sin^  by  the  forbid- 
den tree  of  knowledge,  they  are  once  a  year  changed 
into  the  form  of  serpents,  and  brought  by  millions  into  a 
grove  of  such  trees,  wiih  the  same  golden  appearance  of 
fruit  upon  tliem.  Aud  while  with  eager  appetite  they 
seize  those  fair  appearances  to  allay  their  thirst  and  hun- 
ger, instead  of  fruit  they  chew  nothing  but  bitter  ashes, 
and  reject  the  hateful  taste  with  spattering  noise ;  and 
still  they  repeat  their  attempts  with  shameful  disappoint- 
ment, till  they  are  vexed,  are  tormented,  aud  torn  with 
meagre  famine,  and  then  are  permitted  to  resume  the 
shape  of  devils  again.  And  why  may  we  not  suppose, 
that  the  crimes  of  which  the  wicked  children  of  men 
have  been  guilty  in  the  present  life,  may  be  punished 
with  some  such  kind  of  pain  and  confusion,  both  of  holy 
and  soul,  as  is  here  represented  in  this  poetic  emblem  of 
parable  ? 

YII.  Another  misery  of  damned  creatures  is,  that 
vexing  envy  which  arises  against  the  sairds  in  glory,  and 
tvhich  shall  never  be  appeased  or  gratified.  The  blessed 
in  heaven  shall  be  for  ever  blessed,  and  the  envy  of 
devils  and  damned  souls  shall  never  hurt  their  felicity, 
nor  see  their  joys  diminished.  This  vile  passion  of 
those  cursed  spirits  therefore  against  the  blessed  inhabi- 
tants of  heaven,  tlu)ugh  it  rage  never  so  high,  is  only 
preying  upon  their  own  hearts,  aud  increasing  their  own 
inward  anguish. 

Let  us  imagine  how  many  thousand  holy  souls  are 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  §77 

arrived  safe  at  paradise,  who  were  surrounded  with 
mean  and  low  circumstances  here  upon  earth,  while  their 
haughty  lords,  and  their  rich,  insolent  neighbors,  have 
sinned  themselves  into  hell.  And  do  you  think  those 
children  of  pride  can  ever  bear  this  sight  without  envy  ? 
How  many  martyrs  have  ascended  to  glory  from  racks, 
and  tortures,  and  fires,  here  upon  earth,  while  their 
bloody  and  cruel  persecutors  have  been  working  out 
their  own  damnation  by  these  inhuman  acts  of  murder 
and  cruelty  ?  And  will  not  these  wretches,  under  their 
righteous  sufferings  and  punishttients  in  hell,  envy  the 
creatures  whom  they  have  scorned,  and  oppressed,  and 
murdered  here  on  earth,  when  they  shall  see  them 
placed  on  high  seats  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
themselves  cast  into  utter  darkness  ? 

And  wh.it  does  all  this  envy  do  but  increase  their 
own  wretchedness  ?  They  are  distracted  witii  pride  and 
rage,  to  think  of  these  high  f  ivors  of  the  blessed  God 
bestowed  on  creatures  whom  they  treated  once  with  ut- 
most disdain.  But  their  envy,  like  a  viper,  preys  upon 
their  own  entrails,  and  shall  never  be  allayed  or  made 
easy.  They  send  a  thousand  curses  up  to  the  heavenly 
world  ;  but  the  saints  are  for  ever  secured  in  happiness, 
nnder  the  eye  of  God  their  heavenly  Father,  and  the 
care  of  Jesus  tlieir  almighty  friend. 

O  what  a  painful  plague  must  this  envy  be,  when  with 
all  her  envenomed  whips  and  stings  she  does  but  scourge 
and  torment  the  lieart  where  she  dwells  ?  What  an  un- 
speakable torture  must  it  be  to  feel  this  envy  so  violent 
and  so  constant,  that  it  gives  itself  no  ease  through  ever- 
lasting ages  ?  Who  is  there  that  dwells  in  flesh  and 
blood  can  conceive  or  express  the  horror  and  the  twing- 
ing agonies  tliat  arise  from  such  a  hateful  passion,  fer- 
menting and  raging  through  all  the  powers  of  the  soul  ? 

VIII.  The  last  thing  1  shall  mention,  as  part  of 
those  punishments  of  hell  which  affect  the  spirit^  is  a 
48 


378  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

perpetual  expectation  and  dread  of  new  and  increasing 
punishments  without  ejid ;  and  it  is  highly  probable, 
that  this  shall  be  tlie  portion  of  multitudes.  When  the 
souls  of  the  saints  are  released  by  death,  and  arrive  at 
the  blessed  regions,  they  are  not  vested  w^ith  all  their 
brightest  glories  in  a  moment,  nor  fixed  in  the  highest 
point  of  knowledge  and  happiness  at  their  first  entrance; 
but  as  their  knowledge  and  their  love  increases,  so  their 
capacities  are  enlarged  to  take  in  new  scenes  and  new 
degrees  of  pleasure  ;  and  it  is  proba!)le  that  their  felicity 
shall  be  ever  increasing.  And  in  the  same  manner,  it  is 
not  unlikely,  that  the  increasing  sins,  the  growing  wick- 
edness, and  mad  rebellion  of  damned  spirits,  may  bring 
upon  them  new  judgments  and  more  weighty  vengeance. 
So  it  was  with  Pharaoh,  the  Egyptian  tyrant,  when  he 
remained  obstinate  and  rebellious  against  the  messages 
of  God  by  Moses,  even  while  he  and  his  nation  lay  un- 
der smarting  scourges  of  the  Almighty.  How  did  his 
plagues  increase  witli  his  iniquities  ?  And  he  may  be 
set  before  us  as  an  emldera  of  sinners,  and  their  suffer- 
ings, under  the  wrath  of  God  in  hell,  as  in   Romans  ix. 

17,  18. 

Or  perhaps  as  the  wicked  of  this  world  when  they 
die,  have  left  evil  and  pernicious  examples  behind 
them,  or  have  corrupted  the  morals  of  their  neiglibor?: 
by  their  enticements,  or  their  commands,  or  by  their 
wicked  influence  of  any  kind,  so  tlieir  punishment  may 
be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  lasting  elTects  of  their 
vile  example,  or  their  vicious  influences.  And  perhaps 
too,  there  are  none  amons;  all  the  ranks  of  the  damned, 
Vi^hose  souls  will  be  filled  so  high  with  the  dread  and 
horror  of  increasing  woes,  as  lewd  and  profane  writers, 
profane  and  immoral  princes,  or  cruel  persecutors  of  re- 
ligion. Jeroboam,  the  king,  not  only  sinned  himself 
grievously,  but  ivho  made  Israel  to  sin,  as  the  scripture 
frequently  expresses  it  with  an  emphasis,  by  setting  up 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  379 

the  idolatry  of  calves  in  the  land  ;  i  Kings  xiv.  and  xv. 
and  xvi.  His  ghost  stood  fj^ir  for  such  an  increase  of  tor- 
ment from  age  to  age,  as  his  idolatry  prevailed  further 
in  the  land.  And  all  the  wanton  poets  and  the  vile 
persecutors,  whether  of  heathen  or  of  christian  name, 
whose  writings,  whose  example,  or  whose  laws  have 
conveyed  and  propagated  their  wickedness  from  age  to 
age  after  their  decease,  will  be  some  of  these  wretched 
expectants  of  new  and  increasing  punishment. 

Have  a  care,  O  ye  witty  and  ye  mighty  sinners  !  Have 
a  care  of  setting  vile  temptations  and  bad  examples  be- 
fore the  men  of  your  age  !  Have  a  care  of  spreading  the 
contagion  of  your  vices  around  jou,  by  the  softness  and 
force  of  your  allurements  !  Have  a  care  of  establishing 
iniquity  by  a  law,  and  propagating  loose  and  wicked 
opinions,  or  of  encouraging  persecution  for  conscience 
sake !  Take  heed  lest  the  cursed  influence  of  your 
crimes  should  descend  from  generation  to  generation 
among  the  living,  long  after  you  are  dead,  and  should 
call  for  new  and  sharper  strokes  from  the  punishing 
hand  of  the  Almighty  ! 

But  suppose  there  were  nothing  else  but  the  long 
dreadful  view  of  the  eternity  of  their  present  miseries, 
with  an  everlasting  despair  of  ease  or  deliverance,  this 
would  add  unspeakably  to  their  torment.  The  constant 
sensation  of  what  they  feel  now,  and  the  dread  of  what 
they  must  feel;  is  sufficient  to  make  tlieir  wretchedness 
intolerable. 

If  all  these  springs  of  misery,  which  I  have  already 
mentioned,  are,  and  will  be  found  in  the  souls  of 
damned  sinners,  there  is  no  need  of  more  to  make  them 
exquisitely  miserable.  And  yet,  since  their  bodies  shall 
be  raised  from  the  dust,  in  order  to  be  joined  with  their 
souls  in  punishment,  as  they  were  united  in  sin,  why 
may  we  not  suppose,  that  the  great  God  will  create 
bodies  for  them  of  such  an  unhappy  mould  and  contex- 


380  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

ture,  as  shall  be  another  perpetual  source  of  pain  and 
anguish  ?  What  if  their  bodies  shall  be  raised  with  all 
the  seeds  of  disease  in  them,  like  the  gout  or  the  stone, 
or  any  more  smarting  malady  ?  And  what  if  the  smart 
of  these  bodily  distempers  should  mingle  with  the  raging 
passions  of  the  mind,  as  far  as  it  is  consistent  with  im- 
mortality and  everlasting  duration?  Who  c>jn  say,  that 
when  God  exerts  his  power,  and  makes  his  icrath  known, 
in  punishing  obstinate,  rebellious,  and  impenitent  sin- 
ners, as  Romans  ix.  he  will  not  frame  such  bodies  for 
them  to  dwell  in,  as  shall  be  a  hateful  burden,  and  an 
incessant  plague  to  them  through  all  ages  of  tneir  dura- 
tion ?  And  perhaps  these  bodily  pains  may  be  also  in- 
cluded in  the  metaphor  of  a  gnawing  worm  I)red  within 
them,  it'hich  shall  never  die,  which  shall  never  cease  to 
fill  them  with  grievous  anguish. 

Here,  perhaps,  it  may  be  inquired,  are  there  not  mul- 
titudes of  men  in  vhis  world,  who  are  not  sinners  of  the 
grosser  kind,  but  have  lived,  in  the  main,  in  the  practice 
of  common  social  duties,  and  have  maintained  the  usual 
forms  of  religion,  according  to  t'.ie  outward  rules  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  custom  of  their  nation,  bi-t  they  have 
been  negligent  indeed  of  any  sincere  repentance  towards; 
God,  and  have  been  strangers  to  inward,  vital  religion 
throughout  their  whole  course  ?  Shall  these  creatures, 
who  seem  to  stand  in  a  sort  of  indifferent  character,  who 
are  out\vardly  blameless,  with  regard  to  common  mo- 
rality, and  have  exercised  the  common  virtues  of  justice 
and  benevolence  towards  their  fellow-creatures,  perhaps 
under  the  influences  of  education  or  custom,  or  perhaps 
by  the  effect  that  reason  or  philosophy,  or  otlier  inward 
fears,  have  had  toward  the  restraint  of  their  passions  and 
appetites  ;  I  say,  shall  such  sort  of  creatures  as  these  be 
filled  with  those  furies  of  rage  and  resentment  against 
God,  envy  and  malice  toward  their  fellow-sinners,  and 
all  the  vile  and  unsociable  passions  in  these  regions  of 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HF.LL.  381 

misery,  which  they  have  never  found  working  in  them 
here  on  earth,  or  hut  in  a  low  degree  ?  Shall  all  the  tor- 
ments and  inward  anguish  of  soul  tiiat  you  have  heen 
describing,  fall  upon  tliis  rank  of  sinners,  whom  the  eye 
of  the  world  could  hardly  distinguish  from  good  men, 
and  who  were  very  far  from  the  character  of  wicked  ? 

*Bnsiver  1.  That  however  there  may  seem  to  be  three 
sorts  of  persons  in  our  esteem,  viz.  the  good,  the  had^ 
and  the  indifferent,  yet  the  word  of  God  seems  to  ac- 
knowledge but  two  sorts,  viz.  those  who  fear  God  and 
serve  him,  and  those  who  fear  him  not  ;  Mai.  iii.  18 ; 
those  who  have  acted  from  principles  of  inward  religion, 
or  the  love  of  God,  and  those  who  had  no  such  principle 
within  them.  And  therefore  the  scripture  reveals  and 
declares  but  two  sorts  of  states  in  the  future  world,  viz. 
that  of  rewards  and  punishments,  or  that  of  happiness 
and  misery.  And  as  God  the  rigliteons  Judge  is  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  all  the  secret  principles  and 
workings  of  every  heart,  he  alone  knows  who  have 
practised  virtue  sincerely  from  pious  principles,  and 
who  have  had  no  such  principles  within  them.  He  well 
distinguishes  who  they  are  that  have  complied  with  the 
rules  of  the  dispensation  under  which  they  have  lived, 
or  who  have  not  complied  with  it.  And  such  as  may 
have  the  good  esteem  of  men,  may  be  highly  offensive 
to  God,  who  knows  all  things,  and  may  be  worthy  of 
his  final  punishment.  The  Judge  of  the  whole  earth 
will  do  right. ^ 

And  since  he  has  declared  it  to  be  his  rule  of  judg- 

*  It  has  been  the  opinion  of  some  writers  in  older  and  in  latter  times,  that 
the  vast  numbers  of  indifferent  persons,  who  have  neither  been  evidently  lioly 
or  evidently  wicked,  shall  be  sent  to  a  new  state  of  trial  in  the  other  world  . 
but  I  can  find  nothing  of  this  doctrine  in  the  Bible,  nor  any  hint  of  it,  unless 
in  that  obscure  t^xt  of  St.  Peter  .  1  Epistle  iii.  chapter  19,  where  Christ  is 
said  to  go  and  preach  to  the  spirits  of  those  sinners  who  were  drowned  in 
the  flood  ofNoah,  which  may  be  construed  to  another  sense  with  truth  and 
justice. 


1 


383  THE  NATURE  OP  THE 

ment,  that  lie  will  reward  every  one  according  to  their 
icorksj  Mu\  it  shall  be  much  more  tolerable  for  some  of 
tliose  creatures  than  it  shall  be  for  others,  by  reason  of 
their  lesser  crimes,  or  their  nearer  approaches  to  virtue 
and  piety,  so  it  is  certain  he  will  act  in  perfect  justice 
and  equity  towards  every  criminal ;  and  none  shall  be 
punished  above  their  demerits,  though  no  impenitent 
sinner  shall  go  unpunished. 

We  do  not  therefore  imagine,  that  every  condemned 
criminal  shall  have  the  same  degree  of  inward  raging 
passions,  the  same  madness  and  fury  against  God  and 
their  fellow-creatures,  nor  the  same  anguish  of  conscience 
as  those  who  have  been  more  grossly  and  obstinately 
wicked  and  vicious,  and  have  wilfully  refused  and  re- 
nounced the  well  known  oflTers  of  grace  and  salvation. 
Tiiere  are  innumerable  degrees  of  inward  punishment 
and  pain,  according  to  the  degrees  of  sin. 

Answer  2.  It  should  be  added  too,  that  that  world  of 
punishment  is  also  a  world  of  increasing  wickedness ; 
and  those  that  have  had  some  natural  virtues,  and  some 
appearances  of  goodness  here,  may  and  will  renounce 
it  all  in  the  world  to  come,  where  they  find  themselves 
punished  for  their  impenitence  and  irreligion,  and  their 
criminal  neglect  of  God  and  godliness.  And  the  least 
and  lightest  of  the  punishments  of  damned  souls  will  be 
terrible  enough,  and  yet  not  surpass  the  desert  of  their 
offences.  Tliey  have  been  all  in  greater  or  less  degrees, 
treasuring  up  food  for  this  immortal  worm,  and  fuel  for 
this  fire,  which  is  unquenchable. 

Besides,  it  may  be  added  here,  that  in  tlireatenings  the 
holy  scripture  generally  expresses  them  in  their  highest 
degrees,  and  most  formidable  appearances,  on  purpose 
to  secure  men  from  coming  near  the  peril  and  border  of 
them. 

This  shall  suffice  to  explain  the  first  part  of  the  meta- 
phor in  my  text,  that  is,  The  worm  that  dieth  not. 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  383 


SECTION  II. 


Tlie  fire  shall  not  be  quenched. 

I  proceed  now  to  consider  tlie  second  part  of  the  de- 
scription of  hell  in  the  nature  of  it,  as  it  is  represented 
by  our  Saviour ;  and  that  is,  that  the  fire  is  never 
quenched. 

Fire  signifies  the  medium  or  instrument  of  torture 
from  without,  wiiich  God  has  threatened  to  employ  in 
the  punishment  of  guilty  creatures,  even  as  the  gyiaicing 
worm  signifies  their  inward  torment.  Fire  applied  to 
the  sensible  and  tender  parts  of  the  flesh,  gives  the 
sharpest  pain  of  any  thing  that  comes  within  our  com- 
mon notice  ;  and  it  is  used  in  scripture  to  signify  the 
punishments  of  damned  sinners,  and  the  wrath  of  God 
in  the  world  to  come.  And  perhaps  that  text  is  the 
foundation  of  it,  Isai.  xxx.  last  verse  ;  Tophet  is  or- 
dained of  old  ;  he  has  made  it  deep  and  large  ;  the  pile 
thereof  is  fire  and  much  icood  ;  and  the  breath  of  the 
Lord,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone,  doth  kindle  it.  Tiils 
tophet  was  a  place  in  tlie  valley  of  Hinnon,  where 
children  were  wont  to  be  bursit  in  sacrifice  to  the  idid 
Moloch  ;  and  from  these  Hebrew  words,  hell,  in  tie 
New  Testament  is  called  Geenna,  because  of  the  burn- 
ing torture  and  the  terrible  shrieks  of  dying  children  in 
this  valley  of  Hinnon. 

This  description  of  hell  by  fire  is  used  by  our  Sav- 
iour and  his  apostles,  in  their  speeches  and  writings  on 
this  subject.  Hell  fire  is  mentioned  six  times  in  six 
verses  where  my  text  lies  ;  the  last  sentence  of  judg- 
ment pa«>sed  upon  sinners,  as  it  is  represented  hy  our 
Saviour,  is  expressed  in  the  same  language  ;  Matt.- 
XXV.  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlastini^  fire.  The 
apostle  Paul,  speaking  of  the  return  of  Christ,- 3  Thess. 
i.  8,  asserts,  that  he  shall  appear  in  fiamingfivef  to  take 


384  THE  NATUliE  OF  THE 

vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and  that  obey  not 
the  gospel.  And  in  Rev.  xiv.  10,  11,  as  well  as  in 
other  parts  of  this  book,  the  final  punishments  of  sinners 
is  represented  hy  Jive  and  brimstone,  as  the  instruments 
of  their  torment. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  spirits  or  beings  which  have  no 
body  cannot  feel  burning  by  material  fire,  unless  they 
are  united  to  some  sort  of  material  veliicles  ;  but  that 
God  will  use  material  fire  to  punish  obstinate  and  rebell- 
ious sinners  hereafter  at  the  resurrection,  is  not  improb- 
able, though  it  is  very  hard  to  say  with  full  assurance. 
Since  the  bodies  of  the  wicked  are  to  be  raised  again, 
it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  their  habitation  shall  be  a 
place  of  fire,  and  their  bodies  may  be  made  immortal  to 
endure  the  smart  and  torture  without  consuming.  Did 
not  this  God,  by  his  almighty  power  and  mercy,  preserve 
the  bodies  of  Shadrach,  Meshech,  and  Abednego.  in  the 
burning  furnace  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  so  that  the  fire  had 
110  power  to  consume  or  destroy  them  ?  And  cannot 
his  power  do  tlie  same  thing  under  the  influence  of  his 
justice  as  well  as  of  his  mercy  ?  May  they  not  be 
maintained  for  ever  in  their  existence,  to  endure  the  ap- 
pointed and  deserved  vengeance?  If  the  blessed  God 
has  with  much  long  suffering  borne  irith  these  vessels  of 
wrathj  under  their  repeated  oppositions  to  his  law  and 
gospel,  and  they  still  go  on  in  their  vice,  obstinacy,  and 
impenitence,  and  Uavejitted  themselves  for  destruction, 
surely  he  will  make  his  wrath  and  power  known  in  their 
punishment,  as  St.  Paul  expresses  it,  Rom.  ix. ;  and 
when  the  power  and  wrath  of  a  God  unite  to  punish  a 
creature,  how  miserable  must  that  creature  be  ? 

It  is  certain  that  God  has  been  pleased  in  his  word 
frequently  to  make  use  ofjire,  brimstone,  burning^smoak, 
darkness,  and  chains,  and  every  thing  that  is  painful 
and  noisome  to  nature  on  earth,  in  order  to  represent  the 
miseries  that  he  has  prepared  for  sinners  in  hell.     And 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  385 

we  must  suppose  that  all  these  metaphors,  if  they  are 
but  mere  metaphors,  carry  with  them  a  sense  of  most 
intense  pain  and  anguish,  with  which  God  will  afflict 
the  bodies,  as  well  as  the  spirits  of  those  guilty  creatures, 
who  have  rebelled  against  his  majesty,  rejected  his 
mercy,  and  exposed  themselves  to  his  indignation.  But 
what  particular  instruments  and  methods  of  punishment, 
what  other  elements  or  means  of  torture  the  great  God 
will  make  use  of  to  execute  his  sentence  in  this  tremend- 
ous work,  is  more  than  we  can  now  declare,  because 
God  has  not  fully  declared  it.  And  I  pray  God  none 
of  us  may  be  ever  doomed  to  learn  it  by  terrible  expe- 
rience. But  if  there  be  nothing  but  jire^  the  anguish 
will  be  intolerable,  as  one  of  our  poets  expresses  it, 

In  liquid  burnings,  or  on  dry,  to  dwell. 
Is  all  the  sad  variety  of  hell. 

Or  what  if  the  Almighty,  who  has  all  nature,  with  all 
its  powers,  at  his  command,  should  employ  other  mate- 
rial instruments  for  the  execution  of  his  deserved  wrath  ? 
What  if  he  should  choose  the  alternate  extremes  of  fire 
and  frost,  as  some  have  imagined,  to  torment  those  im- 
penitent criminals  ?  Or  what  if  the  creatures  which  they 
have  abused  to  their  impious  and  brutish  purposes, 
should  be  made  instruments  and  mediums  of  their  pun- 
ishment ?  Wine  may  be  rendered  a  frequent  means  of 
sickness,  agony  and  pain  to  the  drunkard,  and  meat  and 
other  dainties  to  the  glutton,  and  gokl  to  the  covetous 
wretches  who  made  gold  their  god,  that  they  may  all 
remember  their  crimes  in  their  sufferings.  The  wisdom 
of  God  will  execute  the  sentence  of  his  justice  in  the 
most  honorable  manner. 

And  after  al],  if  we  call  away  our  thoughts  from  fire, 
and  every  material  instrument  of  pain,  which  ths  great 
God  may  employ  in  punishing  obstinate  rebels,  and 
survey  only  those  acute  and  dreadful  impressions  of 
horror  and  anguish,  which  a  just  and  holy  God  may 
49 


386  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

make  on  sinful  spirits  in  an  immediate  manner  in  helly 
this  would  overwhelm  our  souls  with  insupportable  ag- 
onies. Who  knoics  the  power  of  thine  anger  9  For 
according  to  thy  fear,  so  is  thy  wrath,  says  Moses, 
Psalm  xc.  Our  fears  do  not  rise  above  those  evils 
which  the  wrath  of  God  will  inflict.  Who  knows  what 
are  those  arrows  of  the  Mmighty,  of  which  Job  speaks. 
the  poison  whereof  drank  up  his  spirits,  and  those  ter- 
rors of  God  which  set  themselves  in  array  against  him  P 
Who  knows  what  our  Saviour  felt  in  the  hour  of  his 
agony  and  atonement  for  our  sins,  which  made  him 
sweat  drops  of  blood  ?  And  what  sort  of  terrible  im- 
pressions God  himself  may  make  of  his  own  wratli  and 
yengeance,  on  tlie  heart  of  such  criminals  as  wilfully 
reject  his  salvation,  is  beyond  our  thoughts  to  conceive, 
or  our  language  to  express. 

This  much  shall  suffice  concerning  the  metaphor  of 
jire,  and  the  hand  of  God  himself  in  kindling  this  fire 
for  the  execution  of  his  sentence  against  impenitents. 
But  since  I  have  entered  so  far  into  this  sul)ject,  I  can- 
not think  it  proper  entirely  to  finish  it,  without  giving 
notice  of  some  different  and  dreadful  additions  to  their 
torment,  which  will  arise  from  evil  angels,  and  from 
their  companions  in  sin  and  misery  among  the  cliildrcn 
of  men  ;  for  in  the  agonies  of  our  Saviour,  men  and 
devils  joined  together  to  afflict  him,  Avhen  it  pleased  the 
Father  to  bruise  him,  and  to  make  his  soul  an  offering 
for  our  sins. 

I.  Evil  angels,  wicked  and  unclean  spirits,  with  all 
their  furious  disjwsitions  and  active  power's,  ivill  in- 
crease the  misery  of  the  damned.  They  paved  the  way 
to  hell  for  man,  by  the  first  temptation  of  our  parents  in 
paradise  ;  and  they  have  been  ever  since  busy  in  tempt- 
ing the  children  of  men  to  sin,  and  they  will  be  hereafter 
as  busy  in  giving  them  torment.  When  these  wicked 
spirits,  O  sinner,  who  have  taken  thee  as  a  willing  cap 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  387 

tive  by  their  baits  and  devices  in  this  world,  when  they 
have  led  thee  down  through  the  paths  of  vice  to  the  re- 
gions of  sorrow,  they  will  begin  tlien  to  insult  thee  with 
Iiateful  reproaches,  and  to  triumph  over  thee  with  inso- 
lence and  scorn.  When  they  have  deceived  thee  on 
-earth,  to  thy  own  perdition,  they  will  make  thee  the 
object  of  their  bitter  ridicule  and  mockery  in  hell. 

O  could  we  turn  aside  the  veil  of  the  invisible  world, 
and  hold  the  bottomless  pit  open  before  you,  what  bitter 
groans  of  ghosts  would  you  hear,  not  only  oppressed 
and  agonizing  under  the  wrath  of  a  righteous  God,  but 
also  under  the  insults  of  cruel  devils  ?  As  there  is  joy 
among  the  angels  of  heaven  when  a  sinner  rejje^its,  or 
when  a  soul  arrives  safely  at  those  blessed  mansions, 
so  when  a  rebellious  and  obstinate  criminal  is  sent  down 
to  hell,  you  would  hear  the  triumphs  of  those  malicious 
spirits  over  him,  with  the  voice  of  insulting  pride  and 
hellish  joy.  And  while  they  domineer  over  you,  and 
tear  you  as  roaring  lions,  that  seek  and  tear  their  prey, 
you  will  curse  yourselves  a  thousaud  times,  for  hearken- 
ing to  their  deceitful  allurements.  You  will  vent  your 
rage  against  yourselves,  at  the  same  time  that  they  scoff 
at  you  as  eternal  fools,  who  have  lost  a  God,  and  a 
heaven,  and  immortal  happiness,  by  your  own  madness 
and  folly  in  hearkening  to  their  temptations. 

II.  The  mutual  uphraidin2:s  of  fellow -sinners  ancl 
fellow-sufferers  among  the  children  of  men,  will  aggra- 
vate your  tcretchedness  day  and  night  without  end. 
Those  who  drew  each  other  into  foul  iniquities,  shall 
fill  the  ears  of  each  other  with  loud  and  sharp  reproaches 
for  their  mutual  influence  on  both  their  ruin  ;  and  shall 
charge  their  damnation,  and  all  their  heavy  sorrows,  as 
a  heavy  load  on  each  other's  souls.  Some  of  those  who 
have  been  joined  in  the  nearest  ties  of  kindred  and 
friendship,  while  they  dwelt  in  flesh  and  blood,  shall  be 
the  terrible  instruments  of  their  keenest  remorse  and 


388  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

vexation,  and  tease  their  spirits  with  endless  upbraid- 
ings. 

Here  the  sons  of  pride,  that  most  hateful  iniquity, 
shall  be  overwhelmed  with  huge  mortijfication  and  dis- 
dain. The  mighty  sinner  shall  be  insulted  by  the 
meanest  of  the  crowd ;  and  princes  shall  be  bearded 
and  aifronted  by  those  gay  slaves  of  the  court,  whom 
they  once  employed  in  flattering  and  adoring  them. 
They  were  once  vain  enough  to  believe  they  were 
something  more  than  mortal  ;  but  now  they  are  spurned 
by  those  very  flatterers  with  a  foot  of  contempt ;  and 
their  eternal  pride  still  swelling,  gives  their  own  hearts 
new  stings  and  twinges  at  every  resentment.  None 
but  a  proud  and  haughty  creature  here  in  this  world, 
who  has  sometimes  met  with  scorn  and  insult  from  his 
inferiors,  can  speak  feelingly  of  the  exquisite  sensibility 
of  these  torments  of  a  soul  in  hell. 

But  besides  this,  there  are  many  sinners  who  lived  in 
malice,  and  w  ho  died  with  their  hearts  full  of  revenge 
against  their  fellow-sinners  ;  and  when  they  shall  meet 
them  in  those  deplorable  regions,  how  natural  is  it  to 
suppose  they  will  endeavor  to  execute  this  revenge  upon 
them  without  end  and  without  mercy  ?  For  it  may  be 
easily  supposed,  that  malice,  revenge,  and  cruelty,  which 
are  the  proper  character  of  devils,  shall  not  be  abated 
among  the  children  of  men,  when  they  are  grown  so 
near  akin  in  their  tempers  to  those  evil  spirits,  and  are 
now  for  ever  ndngled  amongst  them. 

And  yet  further,  who  knows  what  the  damned  in  hell 
shall  endure  from  the  endless  brawls  and  bitter  quarrels 
among  themselves  ?  What  new  contentions  will  arise 
perpetually  in  such  a  country,  where  it  is  perhaps  the 
practice  and  custom  of  the  place,  and  the  nature  of  the 
inhabitants,  for  the  most  part,  to  make  every  one  of  their 
fellows  as  uneasy  and  as  miserable  as  they  can  ?  O 
what  mad  and  furious  pride,  and  malice,  and  every  hel- 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  389 

lish  passion,  will  be  raging  almost  in  every  bosom 
against  all  those  who  are  near  them,  and  this  in  a  dark 
prison  where  all  are  intensely  tormented,  and  where 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  compassion  or  sincere  love, 
nothing  to  sooth  each  other's  sorrows,  but  every  thing 
that  may  add  to  the  smart  and  anguish  ! 

O  that  the  present  survey  of  these  horrors  of  soul, 
these  complicated  distresses  and  miseries  from  within 
us  and  without  us,  from  every  quarter  of  heaven  and 
hell,  from  the  gnawing  worm  within  us,  and  from  the 
fire  of  the  wrath  of  God,  and  the  mutual  insults,  railings 
and  injuries  of  men  and  devils,  might  all  lie  with  its 
due  weight  upon  our  spirits  now,  while  we  are  in  the 
land  of  hope  ;  that  every  one  of  us  may  be  awakened  to 
a  timely  concern  about  our  highest  interest,  and  hasten 
to  make  our  escape  as  Lot  did  from  Sodom,  lest  the 
sentence  of  death  be  pronounced  upon  us  while  we  de- 
lay, and  the  fiery  deluge  overtake  us. 

But  here  I  would  tarry  a  little  to  answer  a  repeated 
objection,  viz.  tiie  terror  of  this  outward  punishment 
from  the  hand  of  Grod,  which  is  described  by  avenging 
fire,  is  so  severe  and  intolerable,  that  it  awakens  some 
lesser  criminals  to  raise  the  same  cavil  against  this  un- 
quenchable fire,  or  God's  punishing  hand,  as  was  raised 
before  against  the  never-dying  worm,  or  the  inward  an- 
guish of  soul  arising  from  its  own  conscience. 

It  is  possible  some  lesser  sinner,  who  has  had  more 
appearances  of  piety  or  religion  here  on  earth,  may  rise 
and  say,  you  have  set  the  punishments  of  sin  in  a  most 
horrible  and  tremendous  light,  from  this  metaphor  of  fire, 
as  well  as  from  the  deathless  worp.  But  surely  this 
cannot  be  the  case,  nor  these  the  sufferings  which  God 
will  inflict  on  every  wretched  creature  in  hell.  Are  not 
the  punishments  there  proportioned  to  the  offences  ? 
What  if  these  sharpest  and  deepest  tortures  and  horrors 
should  be  the  portion  of  the  vilest  criminals,  tlie  most 


390  THE  NATURE  OF  TIIE 

impious  rebels  against  God,  the  profane  and  obstinate 
abusers  of  gracej  the  scoffers  at  Christ  and  his  gospel, 
and  the  cruel  persecutors  of  all  the  saints,  yet  will  every 
soul  who  had  not  quite  religion  and  holiness  enough  to 
reach  heaven,  *be  thus  terribly  tormented  in  hell  ?  Does 
not  Clirist  himself  tell  us,  and  did  you  not  allow  before, 
that  it  siiall  be  more  tolerable  for  some  sinners  than  for 
others  ?  And  will  there  be  no  easier  abodes,  no  milder 
regions,  no  kinder  and  more  favorable  appointments  for 
such  as  have  many  good  wishes  and  hopes,  many  friend- 
ly exercises  of  virtue  toward  men,  and  some  workings 
of  imperfect  piety  toward  God? 

To  this  I  answer,  as  before,  it  is  certain  that  every 
one  shall  be  judged  according  to  their  works ^  by  an  un- 
erring rule  of  equity,  and  shall  be  punished  according  to 
the  aggravation  of  their  iniquities.  But  dost  thou  know, 
O  sinner,  how  great  is  that  punishment  which  the  least 
transgression  against  the  law  of  God  deserves  ?  One  sin- 
gle sin,  which  thou  Avilt  not  part  with,  will  create  insuf- 
ferable misery.  And  though  there  may  be  other  criminals 
there  of  much  more  heinous  and  aggravated  guilt,  pro- 
fanencss,  and  rebellion  than  thine  is,  yet  if  thy  soul  be 
filled  with  all  that  torment  which  one  sin  may  create  and 
deserve,  there  will  be  hell  enough  around  thee  to  make 
thy  distress  too  terrible  for  thee  to  bear. 

Besides,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  whatsoever  ten- 
dencies toward  piety,  or  appearances  of  goodness,  might 
be  found  with  thee  in  this  world,  all  these  will  vanish 
and  be  lost,  when  once  thy  day  of  grace  is  finished,  and 
all  the  means  of  grace  and  salvation  are  ended  for  ever. 
If  (hou  hast  refused  tlie  proposals  of  mercy,  and  contin- 
ued in  thy  sins  without  repentance,  and  hast  never 
accepted  the  salvation  of  Christ  while  it  was  offered,  all 
the  good  that  thou  seemedst  to  have' shall  be  taken  from 
thee ;  Matt.f  xxv.  29 :  or  rather  tliy  heart  itself  will 
i^row  more  hard,  tby  will  more  obstinate  against  God, 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL,  SQL 

and  every  evil  passion  will  rise  and  prevail,  and  make 
thee  perhaps  as  very  a  devil  as  thy  companions  in  guilt 
and  misery.  It  is  for  those  who  would  not  part  with 
their  beloved  sins,  which  were  as  dear  as  rigid  hands 
or  as  right  eyes^  that  tlie  never-dying  ivorm  and  the  un- 
quenchable tire  are  prepared,  as  the  context  itself  informs 
vis  in  this  place. 

And  as  the  worm  of  conscience,  even  for  lesser  sins, 
will  gnaw  thy  heart  witli  intense  anguish,  so  the  ven- 
geance of  divine  fire  will  torment  thee  with  exquisite 
pain,  though  thy  pain  and  thy  anguish  shall  not  be  equal 
to  what  greater  criminals  endure.  Eut  it  is  wise  and  kind 
in  the  blessed  God  to  denounce  the  terrors  and  sanctions 
of  his  law  in  their  utmost  severity,  to  guard  liis  law  the 
better  against  every  transgression,  and  to  frighten  and 
secure  his  creatures  from  sin  and  punishment. 

Trifle  not,  therefore,  O  sinner,  witli  the  means  of 
mercy,  and  venture  not  upon  little  sins,  in  hope  of  little 
misery,  nor  dare  to  continue  in  an  impenitent  state  with- 
out God,  without  Christ  and  his  salvation,  upon  a  foolish 
presumption  that  thy  sins  are  but  small,  and  thy  punish- 
ment shall  be  less  than  others.  For  the  least  of  those 
sorrows  will  be  found  greater  than  any  mortal  creature 
can  bear,  and  therefore  thou  shalt  be  made  immortal  to 
suifer  them. 

It  is  granted,  there  are  many  mansions  in  hell,  as  well 
as  in  heaven,  but,  as  the  lowest  mansion  in  heaven  is 
happiness,  so  the  easiest  place  in  hell  is  misery. 

There  is  another  objection  rises  here,  which  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  give  some  answer  to  ;  viz.  if  the  punishments 
of  hell  are  so  intense  and  terrible,  betv/een  the  worm  of 
conscience,  the  fire  of  God's  anger,  and  the  malice  of  evil 
spirits,  surely  it  will  work  up  human  nature  into  ecstacy 
and  madness  ;  it  will  take  away  all  the  regular  exercise 
of  our  natural  powers  ;  it  will  render  us  perhaps  mere 
passive  miserable  beings,  of  keen  sensations  without  rea- 


393  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

soning.  This  is  certain,  that  such  and  so  various  tor- 
tures would  have  that  influence  upon  our  natures  at 
present,  and  why  should  it  not  hereafter  ?  And  will  the 
blessed  God  continue  to  punish  creatures  when  their 
reason  is  lost  ?  What  can  such  punishments  avail  ? 

I  ansiver,  surely  God  will  not  continue  to  punish  mad- 
men ;  therefore  none  of  these  torments  shall  extinguish 
our  reason,  or  destroy  our  intellectual  powers  ;  for  it  is 
as  creatures  of  reason  and  free-will  that  sinners  aretluis 
punished,  and  therefore  tliese  powers  must  remain  in 
their  proper  exercise  ;  besides,  the  very  operatians  of 
these  powers  in  self-condemnation,  and  self-upbraiding, 
are  part  of  their  punishment.  But  whether  God  will  so 
fortify  the  natures  of  the  damned,  which  probably  shall 
not  be  made  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  enable  them  to  bear 
such  intense  pain  without  distraction,  or  whether  the 
highest  extremes  of  their  torment  shall  only  be  inflicted 
at  some  certain  periods  or  intervals,  so  that  they  shall 
soon  return  to  their  reasoning  powers  again,  with  bitter 
remembrance  of  what  passed,  this  matter  is  hard  to  de- 
termine ;  and  because  it  is  unwritten  and  unrevealed,  I 
am  silent.  But  it  still  remains,  that  punishment  shall  be 
so  intense  and  severe,  as  becomes  a  God  of  holiness  and 
justice  to  inflict  on  rebellious  and  obstinate  creatures. 

SECTION  in. 

Hefleetions  on  the  nature  of  these  punishments. 

It  is  time  now  that  we  should  proceed  to  form  some 
special  reflections  on  the  nature  of  the  punishments  of 
hell,  such  as  they  have  been  describing  in  the  foregoing 
discourse. 

The  first  is  this,  what  dreadful  and  unknown  evil  is 
contained  in  the  nature  of  sin  which  grows  up  into  such 
misery,  which  breeds  this  stinging  worm  in  the  con- 
science^ which  prepares  the  creature  for  such  fiery  tor- 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  393 

ments,  and  wliich  provokes  a  God  to  inflict  them  ?  The 
vessels  of  wrath  have  prepared  themselves  for  it,  as  the 
apostle  intimates,  by  their  own  sins,  Rom.  ix.  3S,  they 
are  jitted  for  destruction.  Nor  does  all  the  intense  and 
infinite  anguish  of  this  punishment  exceed  the  desert  of 
our  sins.  The  great  God,  in  a  way  of  bounty,  may  often 
bestow  upon  us  vastly  beyond  what  our  little  services 
can  ever  pretend  to  have  deserved,  but  he  never  punishes 
beyond  our  deserts. 

What  a  dangerous  and  pernicious  mistake  is  it  in  the 
children  of  men  to  sport  with  sin,  as  with  a  liarmless 
thing?  It  is  much  safer  sporting  with  a  poisonous  ser- 
pent, or  with  burniug  firebrands.  The  serpent  has 
many  gay  and  pleasing  colours  on  its  skin,  and  appears 
a  very  charming  creature,  which  tempts  children  and 
fools  to  play  with  it.  And  the  same  ignorance  inclines 
them  sometimes  to  sport  with  fire,  because  of  its  shining 
brightness  ;  and  till  they  are  burnt  with  the  fire,  or  bit 
by  the  serpent,  they  will  not  forsake  their  foolish  choice, 
nor  be  convinced  of  their  danger.  Such  is  the  case  and 
temper  of  sinful  mortals.  Their  senses  indulge  the 
pleasing  flatteries  of  sin,  and  are  fond  of  its  tempting 
amusements,  till  they  feel  the  smart  of  the  fire  raging  in 
their  bosoms,  and  the  adder  stings  them  to  death.  Thus 
the  wise  man  describes  the  flatteries  of  wine  in  the  view 
of  the  drunkard ;  Prov.  xxiii.  31,  3^.  But  the  same 
wise  man  pronounces  every  one  afoul  that  makes  a  mode 
at  sin,  or  trifles  with  so  formidable  a  mischief;  Prov. 
xiv.  9. 

How  vain  are  the  gay  fancies  of  sinful  men  in  the 
hour  of  temptation  ;  and  how  shocking  and  dreadful 
will  be  their  disappointment  ?  They  think  the  descrip- 
tions of  sin,  which  are  blown  up  and  kindled  into  such 
terror  by  the  lips  of  the  preacher,  are  but  as  mockfire 
which  never  burns ;  but  the  great  day  of  vengeance, 
which  makes  haste  towards  them,  w^ill  terribly  and  eter- 
50 


394<  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

nally  convince  them  of  the  fatal  mischief  of  it,  by  the 
various  plagues  that  shall  seize  upon  them.  The  living 
ivorm  shall  gnaw  their  consciences,  and  the  fire  of  God 
will  torment  their  spirits,  and  spread  a  raging  anguish 
through  their  whole  natures ;  and  every  twinging  accent 
of  their  pain  shall  teach  them,  but  with  a  terrible  and 
hopeless  conviction,  what  U7ispeakahle  evil  is  contained 
in  sin.  They  will  then  find  vf\mi  a  fearful  thing  it  is 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,  who  has  a  right, 
and  power  to,  and  will  punish ;  Heb.  x.  31. 

O  that  each  of  us  might  arrive  at  this  holy  wisdom,  to 
learn  the  dreadful  evil  of  sin  from  this  Bible,  this  book 
of  the  divine  law  and  grace,  and  not  provoke  the  blessed 
God  to  teach  us  so  necessary  a  lesson  by  the  rod  of  his 
vengeance  !  O  that  we  could  look  upon  every  unlawful 
action,  and  particularly  every  sin  against  conscience,  as 
the  seed  of  that  worm  which  will  gnaw  our  souls  in  hell 
with  intense  pain,  as  part  of  that  fuel  which  is  kindling 
into  a  flame  to  torment  our  consciences  for  ever ;  and  thai 
under  the  powerful  influences  of  these  representations  of 
sin,  we  might  fly  to  the  utmost  distance  from  it  with  hor- 
ror, and  make  our  safe  escape  ! 

Reflection  II.  If  the  punishments  of  liell,  appointed 
by  the  blessed  Gotl,  carry  so  much  terror  in  tliem,  how 
much  mistaken  are  the  sinful  children  of  men  in  the 
ideas  which  they  form  of  the  great  and  blessed  God  ? 
This  representation  of  the  vengeance  of  tlie  Lord  in  hell, 
may  be  of  use  to  refute  such  mistaken  opinions. 

Some  have  framed  a  god  for  themselves  ;  not  such  as 
dwells  in  the  heavens,  not  such  as  he  has  described  him- 
self in  his  word ;  but  their  vain  imagination  has  raised 
up  an  idol  made  of  mere  goodness  and  mercy,  witliout 
holiness  and  justice.  It  is  their  own  self-love  which 
forms  this  idle  and  foolish  image  of  the  God  that  made 
them,  because  they  do  not  like  to  think  of  falling  under 
the  terror  of  his  power.     They  venture  to  affront  him  to 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  395 

his  face  ;  they  dare  him  to  vengeance  ;  and  as  the  writer 
of  the  book  of  Job  expresses  it,  tJiey  stretch  out  their 
hands  against  God  ;  they  strengthen  themselves  against 
the  Almighty ;  they  run  upon  him  with  insolence,  and 
venture  upon  the  thick  bosses  of  his  buckler  ;  Job  xv.  25. 
There  are  multitudes  in  our  day  that  are  arrived  at  such 
a  dreadful  height  of  impiety,  as  to  call  upon  him  for  the 
damnation  of  themselves,  as  well  as  of  their  friends,  in 
sport  and  merriment.  They  will  not  believe  that  the 
blessed  God  will  ever  be  found  so  severe  and  formidable 
as  ■preachers  describe  him.  And  because  judgment  is 
not  speedily  executed  against  the  men  of  iniquity,  there- 
fore the  sons  of  men  have  their  hearts  set  in  them  to  do 
mischief.  J[Iadness  is  in  their  hearts  ;  Eccles.  viii.  11, 
and  ix.  3.  Because  God  delays  his  indignation,  they 
will  not  believe  he  lias  any  belonging  to  him,  notwith- 
standing all  the  terrible  words  by  which  he  is  represented 
by  the  prophets,  the  apostles,  and  the  Son  of  God  him- 
self. And  while  they  rush  boldly  on  those  crimes  which 
God  has  severely  forbidden,  they  are  ready  to  think 
God  is  just  such  an  one  as  themselves,  regardless  of  vir- 
tue and  government  ;  Psalm  1.  SI.  And  because  they 
make  nothing  of  sin,  they  imagine  God  will  make 
nothing  of  it. 

O  that  the  sons  of  men  would  once  learn  to  know  God 
better,  for  there  are  many  icho  have  not  the  true  knowl- 
edge of  God,  I  speak  it  to  their  shame,  when  they  fancy 
he  is  all  made  up  of  gentleness  and  forbearance,  without 
lioliness  and  justice  !  Alas,  sirs,  these  attributes  are  as 
necessary  in  a  God,  as  giace  and  compassion.  He  is, 
and  he  must  be  a  wise,  a  righteous  Governor  of  the 
world  ;  and  his  wisdom  requires  that  impenitent  sinners 
should  be  punished,  to  secure  the  honor  of  his  law,  and 
to  guard  his  gospel  from  contempt.*     These  awful  per- 

*  A  governor  made  up  of  mere  goodness  and  mercy,  could  be  no  governor 
at  all ;  for  it  is  absurd  to  call  tbat  a  government,  where  every  subject  may  do 


396  TKE  NATURE  OF  THE 

fections  of  the  blessed  Grod  are  as  necessary  to  vindicate 
liis  authority  and  his  government  from  insult  and  rebell- 
ion, as  his  goodness  is  needful  to  encourage  sinful  crea- 
tures to  repent  and  return  to  their  duty.  The  word  of 
Ood  expressly  tells  us,  he  is  a  God  of  holiness^  and  a 
consuming  fire  ;  Heb.  xii.  2Q  ;  but  there  is  many  a  sin- 
ner that  will  never  learn  this  lesson  till  the  torments  of 
liell  teach  it  him  by  dismal  experience.  They  have 
trifled  witli  his  majesty,  and  mocked  at  his  threateniugs 
all  their  life,  till  at  the  moment  of  death  he  awakes  like 
a  lion,  and  tears  tbeir  spirits  with  everlasting  anguisli. 

1  might  take  notice  also  in  this  place,  that  there  is 
another  mistaken  notion  of  God,  into  which  some  persons 
have  unhappily  fallen,  as  though  God  were  the  cause  and 
author  of  sin,  and  have  spoken  unadvisedly  with  their 
lips,  in  such  language  as  borders  too  near  upon  blas- 
phemy. But  it  is  evident,  that  a  God,  who  will  punish 
the  sins  of  men  with  such  intense  pain  and  torment,  can 
never  be  so  inconsistent  with  himself,  as  to  be  the  author 
or  cause  of  those  sins.  It  is  granted  that  his  universal 
providence  has  a  concern  in  every  thing  tliat  is  transacted 
among  men  ;  but  since  he  has  informed  us  in  what  a 
dreadful  manner  he  will  execute  his  vengeance  against 
sinners  in  the  w  orld  to  come,  it  is  insolence  and  indignity 
against  the  blessed  God,  to  represent  him  as  introducing 
sin  into  our  world.  Let  God  be  true,  though  every  man 
he  a  liar  ;  let  God  be  pure,  and  righteous,  and  holy, 
though  every  man  be  found  guilty  and  criminal ;  other- 
wise, how  shall  God  judge  the  icorld  ?  How  can  he 
inflict  such  torments  on  rebellious  creatures,  if  he  con- 

what  iniquity  and  mischief  he  pleases  with  impunit}'.  The  laws  of  such  a 
government  would  cease  to  be  laws,  and  become  mere  rules  and  directions 
for  living,  which  every  one  might  observe  or  not,  just  according  to  his  incli- 
nation. To  say  that  it  became  the  wisdom  of  God  to  threaten  offenders,  but 
that  his  goodness  will  interpose  in  the  end  and  hinder  the  punisliment,  is  to 
say,  that  God  is  not  wise,  for  if  he  were,  he  would  certainly  have,  taken  care 
not  to  let  those  men  into  the  secret.    Bishop  Hort's  sermons,  p.  315. 


d 

m 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  397 

strain  or  influence  them  to  practise  this  rebellion  ?  All 
opinions  therefore,  that  allow  of  such  an  inference,  as 
though  God  were  the  author  of  sin j  must  be  pronounced 
false  and  pernicious  to  men,  as  well  as  injurious  to  the 
justice  of  God;  for  these  notions  throw  a  vile  imputation 
on  the  blessed  Grod,  and  charge  him  with  heinous  insin- 
cerity, to  forbid  the  comraision  of  sin  by  all  tliese  terrors, 
and  yet  suppose  hira  to  influence  men  to  the  practice  of 
them. 

Reflection  III.  How  reasoyiahle  is  it  for  us  to  believe, 
that  such  a  hell  as  1  have  described,  is  prepared  for  im- 
'penitent  sinners,  since  there  are  so  many  appearances  of 
the  beginnings  of  it  here  on  earth  ;  so  many  indications, 
and  signs,  and  forerunners,  of  such  misery  and  torment 
inflicted  on  sinful  men  ?  Survey  the  remarkable  execu- 
tions of  God's  judgments  on  the  world  in  several  ages 
and  nations  ;  look  back  to  our  first  parents,  who  were 
thrust  out  of  paradise,  the  garden  of  pleasure,  and  ban- 
ished from  the  gates  of  it  for  ever,  upon  the  account  of 
the  first  sin  ;  and  the  entrance  of  it  was  guarded  by  a 
flaming  sword  to  forbid  their  return.  Behold  the  flood 
of  watery  vengeance  in  the  days  of  Noah  breaking  up 
from  the  vast  caverns  of  the  earth,  and  pouring  down 
from  the  windows  of  heaven  to  punish  sin.  Deep  calls 
unto  deep  in  tlie  tremendous  noise  of  these  waterspouts, 
which  spread  death  and  desolation  over  the  face  of  tlic 
whole  earth,  because  all  flesh  had  sinned  against  God 
their  Creator.  Turn  your  eyes  to  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rha,  and  the  cities  of  the  plain,  suffering  the  vengeance 
of  heaven  with  lightning  and  devouring  flre  bursting 
from  the  clouds  to  punish  the  unnatural  crimes  of  that 
country.  See  the  fiery  flying  serpents,  as  the  messen- 
gers of  divine  anger,  to  punish  the  rebellion  of  the 
Israelites  in  the  wilderness.  Mark  what  multitudes  in 
the  camp  of  Israel  received  their  mortal  sting,  and  v/ere 
given  up  to  destruction  and  death.     Cast  your  eyes 


398  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

abroad  over  the  nations^  and  wliat  records  have  we  of 
all  former  ages,  which  do  not  manifest  the  vengeance 
of  God  pursuing  the  iniquities  of  men,  by  wars,  and 
famines,  and  pestilences,  and  every  thing  that  is  bitter  and 
dreadful  to  human  nature.  See  Jerusalem,  the  city  of 
God,  all  in  flames,  and  the  whole  land  of  Judea  laid 
desolate  with  deepest  distress,  diffused  and  reigning 
among  all  the  inhabitants  of  it.  Above  a  million  of 
them  were  actually  slaughtered  and  consumed  by  famine 
and  sword,  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  anger  of  God,  for  their 
long  provocations,  and  the  cruel,  barbarous  murder  of  his 
Son  Jesus.  And  when  you  have  taken  all  these  sur- 
veys, then  tell  me  if  such  terrors  of  the  Lord  do  not  give 
us  sufficient  warning  what  unknown  agonies  and  destruc- 
tions may  be  expected  by  obstinate  and  impenitent  sin- 
ners from  the  hand  of  God,  when  the  utmost  limits  of  his 
patience  restrain  his  wrath  no  longer,  but  his  wisdom 
gives  a  loose  to  all  his  fiery  indignation. 

To  enforce  this  yet  upon  your  hearts,  think  again  of 
all  the  pains  and  torments  of  flesh  and  spirit,  which  arise 
from  the  distempers  of  body,  and  from  tlie  anguish  of 
soul,  even  in  this  present  state  of  trial,  this  land  of  hope, 
this  season  of  divine  long-suffering.  Go  to  the  hospi- 
tals where  the  gout,  and  stone,  and  rheumatism,  and  a 
thousand  maladies  torture  the  nerves  and  the  joints  of 
men  with  intolerable  smart,  and  infer  thence  what  God 
will  inflict  both  on  the  flesh  and  spirit,  or  the  soul  and 
body  of  sinners,  in  the  day  of  his  complete  vengeance, 
when  his  offers  of  mercy  and  the  years  of  his  grace  are 
come  to  their  last  period.  Go  and  survey  the  flelds  of 
battle  and  slaughter,  where  tliousands  of  the  dead  and 
the  dying  are  mingled  in  confused  heaps,  and  groan  out 
their  souls  in  long  anguish  and  extreme  torture,  with 
bruises  and  wounds,  and  all  the  smarting  effects  of  the 
instruments  of  war.  Now  if  all  these  things  come  under 
the  conduct  of  divine  providence  in  a  sinful  world,  which 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  399 

is  yet  in  a  way  of  hope,  what  may  those  resolved  and 
obstinate  rebels  expect,  when  all  the  doors  of  hope  are 
shut  up  for  ever,  and  providence  has  nothing  to  do  on 
earth  or  in  hell,  but  to  execute  the  vengeance  of  a  God. 

Shall  we  take  one  step  yet  further,  and  think  of  the 
inward  pangs  of  conscience,  which  some  awakened 
criminals  have  felt  in  this  life  on  the  account  of  sin, 
when  the  arrows  of  God  have  been  shot  into  their  souls, 
and  the  poison  thereof  lies  drinking  up  their  spirits  ? 
Think  what  dreadful  ferments  of  passion,  and  rage,  and 
hatred  of  God  have  been  found  in  the  hearts  of  some 
sinful  creatures,  when  they  have  grown  mad  with  re- 
venge against  God,  and  against  themselves,  and  envy 
against  all  their  fellow-mortals,  who  are  not  in  the  same 
circumstances  ;  think  yet  again  how  terribly  their  misery 
must  be  aggravated,  when  the  torture  of  everlasting 
despair  attends  all  the  rest  of  the  pains  and  sorrows  they 
suffer  ;  and  then  say,  if  the  description  of  a  future  hell 
in  the  word  of  God  may  not  be  true  and  real.  What 
anguish  beyond  all  the  power  of  present  thought  and 
language,  may  seize  all  the  powers  of  wilful  and  impious 
rebels  against  the  authority  and  the  mercy  of  God,  when 
all  the  stores  of  his  vengeance  that  have  been  treasuring 
up  for  many  years,  shall  be  poured  out  upon  them  with- 
out any  mitigation  or  mixture  of  mercy  ? 

Reflection  IV.  It  is  matter  of  surprise,  and  great 
astonishment,  that  thousands  and  ten  thousands  of  the 
sinful  cliildren  of  men,  from  day  to  day,  and  from  year 
to  year,  are  walking  on  the  borders  of  all  this  misery, 
and  yet  are  so  thoughtless  and  unconcerned  about  it. 
They  carry  peaceful  and  easy  minds  in  the  midst  of  this 
dreadful  danger ;  and  while  they  have  all  the  symptoms 
of  the  children  of  wrath  upon  tliem,  they  live  without 
fear,  and  make  no  eflbrt  toward  their  escape.  Wretched 
creatures  indeed  !  who  have  a  mortal  disease  upon  them 
that  will  breed  this  growing  worm  of  conscience,  that 


400  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

will  grow  up  into  all  this  anguish  and  distress,  and  yet 
are  senseless  of  their  own  peril,  unacquainted  with  their 
own  state  of  soul,  and  are  daily  treading  their  earthly 
rounds  of  business  and  of  pleasure  with  a  merry  heart. 
All  the  heavy  artillery  of  divine  vengeance  is  ready  to 
be  discharged  upon  them  as  soon  as  the  door  of  death 
opens  and  lets  them  into  the  invisible  world  ;  and  yet 
they  walk  on  fearless  and  joyful,  and  have  no  guard  or 
defence  from  all  this  misery,  besides  their  own  vain 
presumption.  Stupid  creatures,  to  lie  down  at  night, 
and  awake  in  the  morning  witliin  an  inch  of  hell,  and 
yet  secure  and  fearless  !  Tliey  live  without  God  in  the 
world,  and  that  even  in  this  land  of  liglit  and  hope, 
where  he  offers  to  visit  them  with  all  his  graces  ;  and 
yet  they  are  hasting  hourly  to  the  eternal  world,  where 
they  must  meet  and  beliold  him  in  all  his  terrors. 

Will  nothing  awaken  you,  O  ye  obstinate  transgress- 
ors against  God,  ye  obstinate  rejecters  of  his  grace  and 
gospel  ?  Will  nothing  warn  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath 
to  come  ?  But  just  thus  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noah. 
The  sinners  of  that  generation  would  not  hearken  to 
that  preacher  of  righteousness  ;  and  even  when  they 
saw  the  clouds  of  heaven  grow  big  and  black  over  their 
heads,  and  the  rain  began  to  be  poured  down  from  the 
skies,  little  did  they  imagine  that  it  would  have  drowned 
the  earth,  till  they  were  overwhelmed  with  the  rising 
destruction.  And  so  shall  it  be  in  the  days  of  the  Son 
of  man,  when  all  the  warnings  of  the  preachers  have 
been  despised,  and  the  tln-eatened  vengeance  of  the  book 
of  God  derided,  when  they  have  set  up  for  bold  and 
witty  scotFers,  and  impudently  demanded,  ichere  is  the 
jiromise  of  his  coming  ?  Then  shall  the  great  and  ter- 
rible day  of  the  Lord  come,  and  pour  out  upon  them  the 
full  measure  of  wrath  and  indignation. 

Is  it  not  time,  my  friends,  to  bethink  yourselves, 
whether  this  be  your  case  ?     Is  it  not  time  for  every 


PUNISHMENTS  IN  HELL.  401 

oue  of  US  to  examine  our  souls  ?  Am  I  exposed  to  this 
danger?  Am  I  every  moment  on  the  brink  of  this 
misery,  and  yet  content  to  continue  so  one  night  or  one 
day  longer?  Can  I  ever  hope  to  escape  the  fury  of  a 
God,  while  I  thus  abuse  his  patience  ?  Or  can  I  have 
any  expectation  of  living  with  him  as  my  God  hereafter, 
if  I  never  seek  after  him  here  ?  The  face  of  God,  as  a 
stranger  in  tiie  world  to  come,  carries  infinite  terrors  in 
it,  and  yet  we  are  content  to  be  strangers  to  him,  and  to 
live  without  his  acquaintance.  The  wrath  of  God  abides 
upon  every  man  who  is  uiiregenerate  in  this  life,  and 
who  has  not  trusted  in  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  ; 
John  iii.  36  ;  yet  they  are  thoughtless  of  it,  for  they  feel 
it  not ;  but  the  moment  wheu  they  shall  awake  into  the 
world  of  spirits,  that  wrath  will  be  felt  with  sudden  and 
dreadful  anguish,  as  a  most  insupportable  burden,  and 
will  crush  all  the  powers  of  the  soul  into  torment. 

Mejlection  V.  It  deserves,  and  it  demands  our  highest 
gratitude  to  the  great  God,  our  humblest  acknowledg- 
ments, and  our  most  exalted  praises  to  his  majesty  and 
his  mercy,  that  we  who  have  long  ago  deserved  this 
misery,  are  not  yet  plunged  into  the  midst  of  it ;  that  we 
have  not  been  entirely  cat  off  from  the  land  of  hope,  and 
sent  down  to  this  destruction.  Blessed  be  the  name  and 
the  grace  of  our  God  for  ever  and  ever. 

While  there  are  thousands,  who  have  been  sent  down 
to  the  place  of  punishment,  whence  there  is  no  redemp- 
tion, before  they  had  continued  so  long  in  sin  as  many 
of  us  have  done,  what  a  peculiar  instance  is  it  of  divine 
long-suffering  and  goodness,  that  we  are  not  actually 
put  under  the  sting  of  this  living  worm,  under  this  fiery 
vengeance  from  the  hand  of  God  ?  What  was  there  in 
us  that  should  secure  us  from  this  destruction,  while  we 
continued  in  our  state  of  guilt,  rebellion  and  impenitence? 
Have  we  not  seen  many  sinners  on  our  right  hand,  and 
on  our  left,  cut  off"  in  their  sins,  and  to  all  appearance 
5i 


40^  THE  NATURE  OP  TItE 

they  seem  to  be  sent  down  to  tlie  place  of  sorrows  ? 
What  is  it  but  the  special  mercy  and  distinguishing 
favor  of  God  that  has  dealt  thus  kindly  with  us,  and 
spared  and  saved  us,  week  after  week,  and  month  after 
month,  while  we  continued  in  our  iniquities,  and  has 
given  us  space  for  repentance  and  hope  ?  What  shall 
we  render  to  the  Loi'd  for  all  his  patience  and  long  suf- 
fering, even  to  this  day  ?  How  often  have  we  incurred 
the  penalty  of  the  law  of  God,  and  the  fiery  sentence  of 
condemnation  by  our  repeated  iniquities,  both  against 
the  authority  and  the  grace  of  God  ?  And  yet  we  are 
alive  in  his  presence,  and  are  hearing  the  words  of  hope 
and  salvation.  O  let  us  look  back  and  shudder  at  the 
thoughts  of  that  dreadful  precipice,  on  the  edge  of  which 
we  have  so  long  wandered.  Let  us  fly  for  escape  to 
the  refuge  that  is  set  before  us,  and  give  a  tliousand  glo- 
ries to  the  divine  jnercy  that  we  are  not  plunged  into  this 
perdition. 

Reflection  VI.  Let  us  learn  from  this  desciiption  of 
hell,  and  our  imminent  danger  of  it,  the  infinite  value 
and  worth  of  the  gospel  of  Christ;  tiiis  gospel  which 
calls  us  aloud  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  points 
out  to  us  the  only  effectual  way  to  escape  it.  What  can 
all  the  riches  of  the  Indies  do  to  relieve  us  under  the 
guilt  and  distress  into  which  sin  has  brought  us  ?  What 
can  the  favor  of  princes,  and  the  flattering  honors  of  the 
Avorld  do  to  rescue  us  from  this  danger  ?  What  can  the 
highest  gust  of  sensuality,  and  tlie  most  exquisite  de- 
lights of  flesh  and  blood  do  to  secure  us  against  this 
overwhelming  misery  ?  It  is  only  the  gospel  of  the 
blessed  Jesus  is  our  refuge,  and  our  safety  from  the  tre- 
mendous destruction. 

What  are  the  heights,  and  depths,  and  lengths  of  hu- 
man science,  with  all  the  boasted  acquisitions  of  the 
brightest  genius  of  mankind  ?  Learning  and  science  can 
measure  the  globe,  can  sound  the  depths  of  the  sea,  can 


PUNISHMENTS  IN  HELL,  403 

compass  the  heavens,  can  mete  out  the  distances  of  the 
sun  and  moon,  and  mark  out  the  path  of  every  twink- 
ling star  for  many  ages  past,  or  ages  to  come  ;  but  they 
cannot  acquaint  us  with  the  way  of  salvation  from  this 
long,  this  endless  distress.  What  are  all  the  sublime 
reasonings  of  philosophers  upon  the  abstruse  and 
most  difficult  subjects  ?  What  is  the  whole  circle  of  sci- 
ences which  human  wit  and  thought  can  trace  out  and 
comprehend  ?  Can  they  deliver  us  from  the  guilt  of  one 
sin  ?  Can  they  free  us  from  one  of  the  terrors  of  the 
Almighty  ?  Can  they  assuage  the  torment  of  a  wounded 
spirit,  or  guard  us  from  the  impressions  of  divine  indig- 
nation ?  Alas,  they  are  all  but  trifles,  in  comparison  of 
this  blessed  gospel,  which  saves  us  from  eternal  anguish 
and  death. 

It  is  the  gospel  that  teaches  us  the  holy  skill  to  pre- 
vent this  worm  of  conscience  from  gnawing  the  soul, 
and  instructs  us  how  to  kill  it  in  the  seed  and  first 
springs  of  it,  to  mortify  the  corruptions  of  the  lieart,  to 
resist  the  temptations  of  satan,  and  where  to  wash  away 
the  guilt  of  sin.  It  is  this  blessed  gospel  that  clearly 
discovers  to  us  how  we  may  guard  againstr  the  fire  of 
divine  wrath,  or  rather  how  to  secure  our  souls  from 
becoming  the  fuel  of  it.  It  is  this  book  that  teaches  us 
to  sprinkle  the  blood  of  Christ  on  a  guilty  conscience  by 
faith,  that  is,  by  receiving  him  as  sincere  penitents,  and 
thereby  defends  us  from  the  angel  of  death  and  destruc- 
tion. This  is  that  experimental  philosophy  of  the  saints 
in  heaven,  whereby  they  have  been  released  from  the 
bonds  of  their  sins,  have  been  rescued  from  the  curse  of 
the  law,  and  been  secured  from  the  gnawing  worm  and 
the  devouring  fire. 

A  serious  meditation  of  hell  in  its  exquisite  pain  and 
sorrow,  will  enhance  our  value  of  the  salvation  of  Christ, 
and  will  exalt  our  esteem  and  honor  of  the  love  of  God, 
who  has  delivered  us  from  eternal  death.     If  we  will 


4)04)  THE  NATURE  OF  THE,  &c. 

but  appoint  our  thoughts  to  dwell  a  little  on  the  teiTors 
and  vengeance  from  wliich  the  blessed  Jesus  has  rescued 
lis  by  his  glorious  undertaking,  if  he  will  stretch  the 
powers  of  our  souls,  and  survey  the  lengths,  and  the 
breadths,  and  the  depths  of  this  distress  and  misery 
which  we  have  deserved,  this  will  discover  to  us  the 
heights,  and  the  depths,  and  the  lengths  of  his  love,  who 
submitted  himself  to  the  curses  of  the  law  of  Grod,  and 
was  made  a  curse  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  to  the 
possession  of  an  eternal  blessing  ;  Gral.  iii.  ^3.  This 
M'ill  shew  us  what  exceeding  riches  of  the  grace  of  God 
have  been  laid  out  upon  us  for  our  salvation.  This  will 
spread  before  us  the  unmeasurable  love  of  Jesus,  which 
has  brought  him  down  from  the  bosom  of  his  Father 
into  such  agonies  as  he  sustained  in  the  garden,  and  on 
the  cross,  that  he  might  rescue  us  from  the  wrath  to  come. 
O  what  immense  and  endless  debts  of  gratitude  and  love 
are  due  from  every  ransomed  sinner,  who  has  been  re- 
leased from  the  bonds  of  his  guilt,  and  from  all  this 
wretchedness,  by  the  love  of  God  the  Father,  and  the 
grace  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  and 
honor,  and  most  exalted  praise^  for  ever  and  ever! 
Amen. 


DISCOURSE  XIIL 

THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE  PUN- 
ISHMENTS IN  HELL. 

MARK  ix.  46. 
Where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched. 

SECTION  I. 

Arguments  to  'prove  the  'perpetuity  of  hell. 

WHEN  the  great  and  blessed  God  had  a  mind  to 
make  known  his  wisdom,  his  power,  and  his]  goodness 
amongst  creatures,  he  built  this  world  as  a  tlieatre,  in 
whicli  those  perfections  of  his  nature  might  be  displayed 
amidst  the  various  work  of  his  hands.  He  spread  it 
round  with  the  blessings  of  life  and  pleasure,  he  over- 
hung it  with  a  canopy  of  skies  and  stars,  arid  placed  the 
glorious  bodies  of  the  sun  and  moon  there,  to  appear  in 
there  alternate  seasons  ;  and  even  amidst  the  ruins 
which  sin  has  brought  into  this  world,  yet  still  every  eye 
may  behold  the  traces  of  an  almighty,  an  all -wise,  and 
a  bountiful  God. 

When  the  same  divine  and  sovereign  Being  designed 
to  exalt  and  diffuse  the  wonders  of  his  grace  among  the 
best  of  his  creatures,  he  built  a  heaven  for  them,  and 
furnished  it  with  unknown  varieties  of  beauty  and  bless- 
ing. And  we  would  hope  in  our  appointed  season  to  be 
raised  to  this  upper  world,  and  there  to  behold  the  riches 
of  divine  magnificence  and  mercy,  and  to  be  sharers 
thereof  among  the  rest  of  the  happy  inhabitants. 

But  since  sin  and  wickedness  have  entered  into  his 
creation  of  men  and  angels,  he  saw  it  necessary  also  to 


406 


THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 


display  the  terrors  of  his  justice,  and  to  make  his  wrath 
and  indignation  known  amongst  rebellious  creatures, 
that  he  might  maintain  a  just  awe  and  reverence  of  his 
own  authority,  and  a  constant  hatred  of  sin  through  all 
Jiis  dominions.  For  this  purpose  he  has  built  a  hell,  a 
dreadful  building  indeed,  in  some  dismal  region  of  his 
vast  empire,  where  he  has  amassed  togetliev  all  that  is 
grievous  and  formidable  to  sensible  beings ;  and  wicked 
spirits  carry  their  own  inward  hell  thither  with  them,  a 
hell  of  sin  and  misery  ;  and  though  he  has  sent  his  own 
Son  to  acquaint  us  with  the  distresses  and  agonies  of 
that  doleful  world,  and  to  warn  us  of  the  danger  of 
falling  into  it,  yet  if  any  of  us  should  be  so  unhappy  as 
to  continue  in  an  obstinate  state  of  impenitence  and  diso- 
bedience to  God,  we  shall  be  made  to  confess,  by  dread- 
ful experience,  that  not  one  half  hath  been  told  us. 

Therefore  hath  God  set  before  us  these  terrors  in  his 
word,  that  we  might  fly  from  this  wrath  to  come,  and 
avoid  these  sufferings.  And  therefore  do  his  ministers, 
by  his  commission,  proceed  to  publish  this  vengeance 
and  indignation  of  the  Lord,  that  sinners  might  be  awa- 
kened to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  that  is  set  before  them, 
and  might  be  affrighted  from  plunging  themselves  into 
this  pit  of  anguish,  whence  there  is  no  redemption. 

We  have  taken  a  short  survey  of  these  miseries,  in 
the  kind  and  nature  of  them,  in  some  former  discourses, 
and  we  are  now  come  to  the  last  thing  contained  in  our 
Saviour's  description  of  hell,  and  that  is  the  perpetuity 
of  it.  The  misery  is  everlasting  in  both  the  parts  of  it, 
for  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched. 
The  arguments  which  shall  be  employed  to  prove  it,  are 
such  as  these. 

^argument  I.  The  express  words  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles  pronounce  these  punishments  eternal ;  and 
surely  these  words  are  given  to  be  the  foundation  of  our 
faith  and  practice,  and  the  rules  of  our  hope  and  fear^ 


PUNISHMENTS  IN  HELL.  40/ 

My  text  seems  to  carry  plain  and  unanswerable  evidence 
in  it.  Their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is  not  quench- 
ed. And  it  is  many  times  repeated  in  this  chapter,  and 
that  with  a  special  accent  on  the  eternal  duration  of  it, 
to  make  that  circumstance  of  it  more  observed,  and  to 
aggravate  the  terror.  Such  an  awful  repetition  from  the 
lips  of  the  Son  of  God  should  make  the  sound  of  the 
vengeance  dwell  longer  on  the  ear,  and  the  threatening 
sink  deeper  into  tlie  soul. 

Let  us  next  observe  the  final  sentence  which  Christ, 
as  Judge,  pronounces  against  impenitent  sinners  among 
the  sons  of  men,  as  well  as  against  fallen  spirits,  in 
Matt.  XXV.  It  is  this,  depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlast- 
ing fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  And  as 
soon  as  the  sentence  is  pronounced,  it  is  immediately  ex- 
ecuted, as  our  Saviour  foretels,  in  the  last  verse.  These 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  and  the 
righteous  into  life  eternal.  What  he  pronounces  as  a 
Judge,  he  foretels  also  as  a  prophet,  that  it  shall  be  put 
in  execution. 

The  express  word  of  God,  in  describing  the  punish- 
ment of  sinners  by  the  pen  of  his  two  apostles,  Paul  and 
John,  declares  the  same  thing ;  S  Thess.  i.  9.  They 
shall  be  jJunished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord.  And  the  book  of  tlie  Revelation 
gives  us  assurance,  that  these  miseries  shall  have  no 
end.  Rev.  xiv.  10,  11  ;  The  antichristian  idolaters, 
who  worship  the  beast,  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the 
wrath  of  God  which  is  poured  out  without  mixture 
into  the  cup  of  his  indignation,  and  shall  be  tormented 
with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb;  and 
the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever  and 
ever.  Jude,  the  apostle,  bears  his  testimony  in  the  same 
manner,  verse  6 ;  tlie  damned  spirits,  who  kept  not  their 
first  station,  are  said  to  be  cast  down  into  hell,  and  bound 
in  chains  of  everlasting  darkness.     Now,  suppose   a 


408         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

man  plimged  into  a  pit  of  thick  darkness,  by  the  com- 
mand of  God,  and  bound  there  with  everlasting  chains  ; 
what  hope  can  he  ever  have  of  deliverance  ? 

And  if  Christ  and  his  apostles,  who  were  taught  by 
him  and  by  his  blessed  spirit,  assert  this  punishment 
shall  be  eternal,  who  shall  dare  to  contradict  tliem  ? 
Who  is  there  so  rash  and  confident  as  to  say,  "This 
torment  shall  not  be  everlasting,  this  worm  one  day  shall 
die,  and  this  fire  shall  be  quenched?"  Does  it  not  ap- 
proach  to  the  crime  of  contradicting  the  Almighty,  and 
the  true  God  ? 

Argument  II.  There  is  a  sort  of  infinite  evil  in  sin, 
arising  from  the  consideration  of  the  person  against 
whom  it  is  committed,  that  is,  the  great  and  blessed  God  ; 
for  every  crime,  according  to  the  law  of  nations,  and  the 
common  sense  of  mankind,  takes  its  aggravation  from 
the  dignity  of  the  person  offended,  as  well  as  from  the 
heinousness  of  the  act ;  so  reproaches  or  assaults  against 
a  king,  or  a  father,  are  much  more  criminal  and  heinous 
than  the  same  assaults  or  reproaches  cast  on  an  equal  or 
an  inferior  ;  but  all  sin  being  an  offence  against  God,  an 
infinite  object,  and  a  violation  of  his  law,  is  a  dishonor 
of  infinite  Majesty,  an  affront  to  the  divine  authority, 
and  therefore  its  aggravations  arise  in  that  proportion  to 
a  sort  of  infinity,  and  require  an  equal  punishment.  But 
because  the  nature  of  a  creature  cannot  suffer  infinite 
punishment  in  the  intenseness  of  the  pain,  therefore  he 
must  bear  it  to  an  injinite  duration^  that  is,  to  all  ever- 
lasting. 

When  divine  justice  pronounces  a  sentence  against 
the  sinner,  equal  to  the  demerit  of  sin,  it  must  be  infinite, 
that  is,  eternal  ;  and  the  sinner  shall  never  be  released 
from  the  prison  and  the  punishment,  till  he  has  jJdid  the 
utmost  farthing  ;  Matt.  ix.  %o ;  and  till  he  has  made 
satisfaction  to  God,  equal  to  his  demands,  and  the  de- 
merit of  the  offence. 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  409 

I  know  this  argument  is  treated  with  much  contempt 
and  derision  among  those  of  the  moderns,  who  would 
diminish  the  evil  of  sin,  and  shorten  the  punishment  of 
it.  But  it  is  much  easier  to  ridicule  it  than  to  answer  it. 
A  jest  is  no  refutation.  And  after  my  best  survey  of  it, 
I  think,  without  prejudice  or  partiality,  the  force  of  it 
seems  to  me  unanswerable  as  to  the  desert  of  sin  ;  and 
I  am  not  ashamed  to  employ  it  in  the  support  of  this 
truth. 

It  is  but  a  very  feeble  opposition  can  be  made  to  it  by 
those  who  say,  that  if  sin  be  counted  an  infinite  evil, 
and  must  have  infinite  punishment,  then  all  sins  are 
equal,  and  will  require  equal  punishment,  for  there  are 
no  different  degrees  in  infinity,  or  in  things  which  are 
infinite. 

But  our'Saviour  has  taught  us,  that  there  are  certainly 
various  degrees  of  punishment  as  well  as  of  sin.  He 
assures  us,  that  it  shall  he  more  tolerable  for  the  inhab- 
itants of  Sodom  and  Gomorrha,  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
than  it  shall  be  for  Capernaum  and  Bethsaida,  where  he 
had  preached  and  wrought  his  wonders  ;  Luke  x.  1:2, &c. 
and  the  reason  is  plain,  viz.  because  the  sins  of  Sodom 
were  less  than  theirs. 

And  it  is  very  easy  to  answer  this  pretence  or  objec- 
tion about  the  equality  of  all  sins  ;  for  sins  may  have 
different  degrees  of  guilt  and  aggravation  as  to  the  act, 
where  the  object  is  the  same,  whether  this  object  be 
finite  or  infinite,  as  the  murder  of  a  father  or  a  king,  is 
a  much  greater  crime  than  a  reproach  or  slander  cast  on 
the  same  persons.  So  the  wilful  hatred  of  God,  and 
blasphemy  against  him,  with  continued  malice  and  pub- 
lic, violent  opposition  to  his  name,  or  law,  or  gospel, 
are  far  greater  sins  than  a  single  neglect  of  his  daily 
worship  for  fear  of  persecution,  or  a  distrusting  his  prov- 
idence, tliough  both  have  the  same  infinite  Being,  that 


410        THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

is,  God,  for  their  object ;  and  in  this  sense  there  is  a 
sort  of  infinity  in  each  of  the  crimes. 

And  accordingly,  punishments  may  be  proportioned 
to  every  crime,  for  they  may  differ  greatly  in  the  degree 
of  severity  and  torture,  thougli  they  may  be  all  equal  or 
eternal  in  the  duration  ;  Sodom  and  Gomorrha,  Caper- 
naum and  Bethsaida,  may  all  suffer  infinite  or  everlast- 
ing sorrow,  and  yet  the  degrees  of  their  pain  may  be 
exceeding  different  all  the  while.  They  may  have  the 
same  infinity  of  duration,  though  very  different  as  to  the 
intenseness  or  degree  of  the  pain. 

Argument  III.  If  the  iniquities  committed  in  this 
life  were  not  punished  with  torment  which  is  everlasting, 
yet  the  damned  in  hell  are  ever  sinning  against  God  ; 
and  therefore  they  provoke  the  vengeance  of  God  to 
continue  his  punishing  hand  upon  them  for  ever.  The 
law  of  God,  in  all  its  demands  of  duty,  its  prohibitions 
of  sin,  as  well  as  in  its  sanctions  of  punishment,  continues 
for  ever  in  force  in  heaven,  and  earth,  and  hell ;  and 
we  see  not  how  it  can  be  abrogated  where  it  arises  from 
the  very  nature  of  God  and  a  creature.  And.  cursed  is 
he  that  continues  not  in  all  things  which  the  law  re- 
quires ;  Gal.  iii.  Every  new  sin  demands  a  new  curse 
and  a  new  punishment  ;  and  there  is  no  reason  which 
forbids  a  righteous  Governor  to  cease  punishing,  while 
the  rebellious  creature  will  not  cease  to  offend  ;  and  es- 
pecially while  he  maintains  an  everlasting  enmity  and 
rebellion  against  the  law  of  God  liis  Creator. 

If  there  were  any  humble  meltings  of  repentance  in 
the  guilty  soul ;  if  there  were  any  sincere  mournings  in 
the  sinful  creature  for  having  offended  his  Maker ;  if 
there  were  any  softness  of  heart,  relenting  under  a  sense 
of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  returning  to  obedience  and  duty; 
even  this  would  not  oblige  a  righteous  and  wise  Govern- 
or to  forgive  the  criminal ;  repentance  is  no  compensation 
for  a  wilful  offence  ;   nor  is  it  thought  unrighteous  or 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  411 

unwise  for  a  prince  to  punish  even  a  penitent  offender 
witli  death. 

But  let  us  propose  the  case  in  utmost  favor  to  a  sinner 
against  the  blessed  God  ;  let  us  imagine  that  divine  wis- 
dom and  €livine  mercy  perhaps  might  be  supposed  to 
contrive  and  to  offer  some  proposals  to  justice  in  a  way 
of  compassion,  and  might  inquire  whether  the  sentence 
of  punishment  could  not  be  reversed,  or  the  terror  of  it 
relieved,  or  some  new  state  of  trial  proposed.  Let  it  be 
added  in  favor  of  the  criminal,  that  we  do  not  find 
through  all  tlie  book  of  God  the  actual  practice  of  true 
repentance  beginning  among  men,  but  it  has  been  always 
followed  with  proportionable  degrees  of  compassion  from 
God.  But  on  the  other  side,  when  there  is  notliing 
found  in  the  heart  of  a  sinner  but  obstinacy,  and  malice, 
and  revenge,  cursing  and  blasphemy  against  the  Al- 
mighty, without  the  least  moving  or  melting  into  a  gen- 
uine penitence  or  holy  sorrow,  without  any  meek 
submission  to  the  majesty  and  justice  of  God,  or  humble 
imploring  his  mercy,  what  reasonable  hope  can  such 
wretches  have,  that  their  chains  of  darkness  should  be 
broken,  and  the  prisoners  released  from  the  vengeance  ? 
When  they  shall  curse  his  justice,  because  it  punislies 
their  crimes,  when  they  shall  curse  his  mercy,  because 
it  did  not  save  their  souls,  and  curse  and  blaspheme  the 
blood  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  because  it  has  not  washed 
away  their  sins,  what  possible  excuse  can  be  made  for 
such  creatures  ?  Or  what  possible  expectation  can  there 
be  for  such  criminals,  but  an  everlasting  continuance  of 
the  fiery  indignation  ? 

Here  it  will  be  replied,  but  why  should  we  suppose, 
and  much  more,  why  should  we  affirm,  the  damned  will 
■never  repent  ?  Are  they  not  free  in  the  other  world 
from  this  flesh  and  blood,  wherein  there  are  so  many 
unruly  passions  and  appetites  ?  Are  they  not  far  remote 
from  all  the  temptations  of  flesh  and  sense,  of  iatemper- 


41S         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OP  THE 

ance,  ambition,  and  covetousuess  ?  Have  they  not  un- 
derstanding  to  see  divine  truths  more  clearly  than  in  this 
world  ?  Have  they  not  reason  to  distinguish  good  and 
evil,  and  free  vi^ill  to  choose  that  which  is  good  ?  Will 
they  not  hate  all  sin,  since  they  have  been  so  long  taught 
the  mischief  of  sin  by  their  sufferings  ?  And  is  there 
any  thing  titter  than  their  agonies  and  torture  by  fire,  to 
make  men  know  and  feel  the  dreadful  evil  of  sinning 
against  God,  and  awaken  them  to  repentance  ? 

To  this  I  answer.  Let  us  judge  a  little  concerning 
the  sinners  in  hell,  by  the  pratice  of  sinners  on  earth. 
How  many  wretched  creatures  are  there  who  have  been 
long  imprisoned,  and  perhaps  punished  for  crimes 
against  the  State,  and  yet  persist  in  their  rebellious  tem- 
per, and  are  never  convinced  they  were  in  the  wrong, 
so  far  as  to  change  their  treason  into  sincere  submission, 
repentance,  and  obedience  ?  Was  not  Pharaoh,  king  of 
Egypt,  an  instance  of  the  stubbornness  and  impenitence 
of  human  nature,  when  in  opposition  to  ten  dreadful 
plagues  he  would  still  pursue  the  flying  Israelites,  and 
destroy  a  people  beloved  of  God  ?  Is  not  hardness  and 
enmity  against  the  governor  often  increased  by  the  severe 
punishments  that  criminals  lie  under  ?  Have  these  pun- 
ishments any  sufficient  power  to  soften  their  hearts  into 
true  repentance? 

What  though  they  do  not  live  in  the  midst  of  sensual 
temptations,  yet  who  knows  how  far  their  spirits,  having 
been  immersed  in  flesh  and  blood,  may  carry  witli  them 
inward  raging  appetites  to  those  sinful  sensualities  and 
defiling  pleasures,  of  which  they  are  for  ever  deprived  ? 

Let  me  ask  again,  have  the  devils  ever  repented  in 
almost  six  thousand  years  ?  Are  they  not  the  same  en- 
emies to  God,  and  his  glory,  and  his  image,  through  all 
ages  ?  And  though  the  damned  spirits  of  men  are  ab- 
sent from  this  world,  and  their  evil  companions  on  earth, 
yet  are  they  not  in  the  fittest  company  to  teach  them 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  413 

pride,  and  rage,  resentment  and  malice,  and  the  most 
unfit  to  teach  them  Immility,  repentance,  and  obedience 
to  God  ?  And  when  they  have  perversely  sinned  away 
all  the  means  of  grace  in  this  life,  is  it  reasonable  to  ima- 
gine, that  God  will  powerfully  soften  their  hearts  by  his 
sovereign  grace,  since  he  has  never  given  the  least  hint 
or  instance  of  it  in  all  the  discoveries  made  in  the  Bible  ? 
And  has  it  not  been  often  one  way  of  God's  punishing 
sinners  here  in  this  world,  by  letting  them  go  on  in  their 
iniquity  and  madness  to  the  end  ?  And  why  may  not 
the  wisdom  and  justice  of  God  see  it  fit  to  treat  sinners 
who  have  been  incorrigible  in  this  life,  by  the  same 
method  in  the  world  to  come  ? 

^argument  IV.  The  natural  effects  and  consequences 
of  sin  living  in  the  soul,  are  misery  and  torment  so  long 
as  the  soul  lives,  that  is,  for  ever.  Sin,  though  it  be  a 
moral  evil,  as  it  is  committed  against  God,  yet  it  is  such 
an  enemy  to- the  nature  of  man,  that  where  it  has'  estab- 
lished its  habit  and  temper  in  the  soul,  it  naturally  pre- 
pares constant  anguish  of  conscience,  and  certain  misery. 
A  wicked  spirit  all  over  averse  to  God  and  goodness, 
gone  fi'om  this  world  and  all  the  soothing  or  busy 
amusements  of  it,  intense  in  its  desires  of  happiness,  and 
yet  a  stranger  to  all  that  call  make  it  truly  happy,  and 
at  the  same  time  shut  out  by  God's  righteous  judgment, 
from  all  the  means  and  hopes  of  grace,  must  needs  be 
miserable,  and  has  prepared  a  state  of  endless  misery  for 
itself,  because  its  nature  and  duration  are  immortal.  An 
nnholy  creature  who  loves  not  God,  and  cannot  delight 
in  things  holy  and  heavenly,  but  derives  its  chief  joy 
from  sinful  pleasures,  can  never  taste  of  felicity,  can 
never  relish  the  satisfactions  that  come  from  the  knowl- 
edge, and  love,  and  enjoyment  of  God  ;  and  when  it  is 
torn  away,  and  banished  from  all  the  sensible  amuse- 
ments of  this  life,  it  must  and  will  be  a  wretched  creature 
iu  the  world  of  spirits;  and  that  by  the  very  course  of 


4il4  THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

nature.  And  God  cannot  be  obliged  to  change  the  es- 
tablished course  of  nature  to  relieve  this  misery  which 
the  sinner  had  wilfully  brought  on  himself ;  nor  can  God 
make  him  happy  without  giving  him  a  new  temper  of 
holiness^  which  he  is  not  obliged  to  do  by  any  perfection 
of  his  nature,  or  any  promise  of  grace. 

If  the  souls  of  men  are  immortal,  such  will  their  'pas- 
sions be,  their  desires,  their  fears,  and  their  sorrows, 
ISfow  their  natural  desires  of  happiness,  as  I  have  said, 
will  be  intense  and  strong,  when  God,  the  spring  of  all 
happiness,  who  hath  been  renounced  aud  abandoned  by 
them,  hath  now  for  ever  forsaken  them,  and  separated 
himself  from  them.  What  can  there  remain  for  them 
but  everlasting  darkness  and  despair,  without  a  dawn  of 
hope  through  all  the  ages  of  eternity  ?  Tlieir  guilty  con- 
sciences, with  the  views  of  God's  unchangeable  holiness, 
will  for  ever  fill  tliem  with  new  fears  and  terrors,  what 
shall  be  the  next  punisliment  they  are  to  suffer.  Such  is 
the  state  of  devils  at  this  time,  who  expect  a  more  dread- 
ful punishment  at  the  great  day,  as  several  places  of  scrip- 
ture make  evident.  Their  being  immersed  in  the  guilt 
of  sin,  and  under  the  constant  and  tyrannical  dominion 
of  it,  will  overwhelm  them  with  present  grief,  with  cut- 
ting sorrows,  and  horror  unspeakable,  which  will  sink 
into  the  centre  of  their  souls,  and  make  them  an  eternal 
terror  and  plague  to  themselves. 

Again,  let  us  consider  their  immortality  of  soul  will  be 
spent  in  thinking.  And  what  comfortable  or  hopeful 
object  is  there  in  heaven,  earth,  or  hell,  on  which  they 
can  fix  or  employ  their  thoughts  for  one  moment,  to  give 
a  short  release  from  this  extreme  misery  ?  So  that  they 
are  left  in  endless  successions  of  most  painful  thoughts 
and  passions  from  the  very  nature  of  things. 

Again,  suppose  tliis  body  of  mine  were  by  nature  ira- 
mortal,  and  was  designed  by  my  Creator  in  its  constitu- 
tion to  live  for  ever  ;  and  suppose  by  my  own  folly  and 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  415 

madness,  my  own  wilful  indulgence  of  appetite  and  pas- 
sion, I  had  brought  some  dreadful  distemper  into  my 
flesh  which  was  found  to  be  incurable,  whether  it  be  the 
gout  or  the  stone,  or  some  more  terrible  malady  of  the 
nervous  kind,  must  not  tliis  gout  by  necessity  of  nature, 
become  an  immortal  gout  ?  Must  not  these  distempers 
be  immortal  distempers,  and  create  eternal  pain?  And 
is  the  God  of  nature  bound  to  work  a  miracle  to  cure  and 
heal  these  diseases  which  I  have  wilfully  brought  upon 
myself  by  my  own  iniquities,  and  that  after  many  warn- 
ings ?  Is  it  unrighteous  in  God  to  let  me  languish  on 
amidst  my  agonies  and  groans  as  long  as  my  nature  con- 
tinues in  being,  that  is  to  immortality  ?  And  especially 
when  there  are  valuable  ends  in  divine  providence,  and 
God's  goveniment  of  the  world  to  be  subserved,  by  suf- 
fering such  wilful,  rebellious,  and  impenitent  creatures 
to  become  sacrifices  to  their  own  iniquities  and  his  jus- 
tice, and  perpetual  monuments  to  other  worlds  of  their 
own  madness  and  his  holiness.  Such  is  the  case  of  a 
sinful  spirit ;  and  therefore  a  God  of  justice  may  pro- 
nounce upon  it,  and  execute  tlie  eternal  misery. 

SECTION  n. 

The  strongest  and  most  plausible  objections  against  the 
perpetuity  of  hell  answered. 

1  think  these  reasons,  which  have  been  given,  are 
suflBcient  to  justify  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  repre- 
senting the  punishments  of  hell  as  everlasting.  But  man, 
sinful  man,  does  not  love  to  hear  of  this  dreadful  perpe- 
tuity of  hell.  They  would  fain  find  some  period  to  these 
sorrows,  they  search  on  every  side  if  there  be  no  way  of 
escape  from  this  prison,  no  door  of  mercy,  no  cranny  of 
hope  left  among  the  reasons  of  things,  or  among  the  at- 
tributes, or  the  transactions  of  the  blessed  God.  And 
they  are  ever  proposing  some  methods  to  cut  shoit  this 


416         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

eternity,  which  scripture  ascribes  to  the  punishment  of 
impenitent  sinners.  I  shall  endeavor  therefore  here  to 
give  a  fair  and  plain  answer  to  the  strongest  objections 
against  this  doctrine  which  I  ever  yet  have  met  with. 

The  first  objection  is  raised  from  a  criticism  on  the 
words  of  scripture.  The  Greek  and  Hebrew  words, 
say  they,  which  we  translate  eternal  and  everlasting,  where 
the  torments  of  hell  are  mentioned,  are  not  always  used 
for  proper  and  complete  eternity ;  they  sometimes  signify 
only  a  long  duration.  So  God  gave  Abraham  and  his 
seed  the  land  of  Canaan  for  an  everlasting  possession  ; 
Gen.  xvii.  8 ;  but  now  the  Turks  possess  it.  Several  of 
the  statutes  of  the  Levitical  law  were  said  to  be  ever- 
lasting ;  Lev.  xvi.  34.  But  they  are  all  abolished  in  the 
gospel.  The  sons  of  Aaron  had  an  everlasting  priest- 
hood conferred  upon  them ;  Exod.  xl.  15.  But  this 
office  is  cancelled  by  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  and 
finished  for  ever. 

Besides,  let  it  be  remembered,  say  the  objectors,  that 
the  Hebrew  word  D^l^;  Olam,  and  the  Greek  Aiuv 
and  Aiuveg  signify  only  the  various  ages  or  periods  of 
time  Avhich  belong  to  the  duration  of  creatures,  or  to 
some  constitutions  of  God  concerning  his  creatures.  And 
they  should  be  translated  an  age,  or  ages,  more  properly 
than  any  thing  else.  And  the  adjective  Aimiog,  when 
applied  to  creatures,  can  relate  only  to  these  ages  ;  but 
these  expressions  were  never  designed  to  enter  into  God's 
own  eternity,  either  before  the  existence  of  this  world,  or 
after  the  consummation  of  it ;  upon  which  reason  it  is 
highly  improper  and  absurd  to  assert,  that  the  duration 
or  punishment  of  creatures  in  hell  shall  be  properly 
eternal,  and  equal  to  the  duration  of  the  blessed  God 
himself.  Now  since  every  thing  in  God's  transactions 
towards  creatures  is  sometimes  limited  by  these  Aioovsg, 
or  ages,  which  are  periods  of  time  that  shall  be  finished, 
why  may  not  the  damnation  and  the  sorroAVs  of  hell  be 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  417 

also  finislied  and  cancelled  at  a  certain  length  of  years, 
though  the  common  words  which  we  translate  eternal 
and  everlasting,  be  ascribed  to  them  in  scripture  ? 

Answer  1.  These  are  the  same  words  both  in  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  by  which  God  expresses  his  own  eternity, 
which  is  absolute  and  complete  without  end.  He  is 
the  everlasting  God;  Gen.  xvi,  33.  The  eternal  God, 
and  his  everlasting  arms  ;  Deut.  xxxiii.  ^7 ;  Rom.  i.  SO, 
and  xvi.  26,  and  several  other  places.  These  are  the 
words  also  by  which  the  scripture  expresses  the  duration 
of  ihc  felicities  of  heaven,  and  the  eternal  life  and  hap- 
piness of  the  saints  ;  Dan.  xii.  2,  Rom.  vi.  23,  John  iii. 
15,  &c.  Now  why  should  we  not  suppose  the  same 
"Words  to  signify  the  same  duration,  when  the  Old  or 
New  Testament  speaks  of  everlasting  burnings  as  the 
vengeance  of  God  against  the  wicked  ;  Isai.  xxxiii.  14 ; 
or  everlasting  shame  and  contempt  P  Han.  xii.  2.  And 
especially  where  the  joys  of  the  saints,  and  the  misery 
of  sinners,  are  set  in  opposition  to  one  another  in  the 
same  text,  as  in  Dan.  xii.  and  Matt.  xxvi.  45  ;  The 
wicked  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  and 
the  righteous  into  life  eternal  ?  And  yet  further,  when 
we  iind  this  doctrine  sufficiently  confirmed  by  many 
other  places  of  scripture  which  set  forth  the  eternity  of 
these  torments  ?  I  grant  that  tlie  eternity  of  God  him- 
self, before  this  world  began,  or  after  its  consummation, 
has  something  in  it  so  immense  and  so  incomprehensible, 
that  in  my  most  mature  thoughts  I  do  not  choose  to  enter 
into  those  infinite  abysses  ;  nor  do  1  think  we  ought 
usually,  when  we  speak  concerning  creatures,  to  affirm 
positively,  that  their  existence  shall  be  equal  to  that  of 
the  blessed  God,  especially  with  regard  to  the  duration 
of  their  punishment.  Perhaps  this  sort  of  language  may 
carry  in  it  something  beyond  what  we  are  called  to  dis- 
course  about,  at  least  in  this  mortal  state  ;  and  therefore 
such  comparisons  are  more  safely  omitted. 

53 


418         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

But  I  would  remark  here  still,  that  tlicse  Aicovsg  oi' 
ages,  both  of  reward  and  punishment  which  are  pro- 
nounced concerning  saints  or  sinners,  do  but  begin  in 
their  perfection  at  the  end  of  this  world  ;  and  tlience  it 
follows,  that  they  must  enter  far  away  into  the  eternity 
of  God's  existence  yet  to  come.  And  the  saints  will  be 
made  happy,  and  the  sinners  will  be  punished  for  long 
ages  after  the  end  of  this  world,  and  all  the  Aicovegj  or 
ages  of  it. 

And  though  God,  by  his  Spirit,  has  not  been  pleased 
to  make  this  comparison  expressly,  nor  assert  our  dura- 
tion commensurate  with  his  own,  yet  he  is  pleased  to 
express  the  duration  of  the  punishment  of  sinners  in  the 
same  common  language  and  phrases,  whereby  he  ex- 
presses his  own  duration,  and  tlie  happiness  of  the 
saints  ;  and  hereby  he  encourages  us  to  express  these 
punishments  by  the  same  common  words  in  our  lan- 
guage too,  rather  than  venture  to  cut  tlicm  sliort  by  a 
Greek  or  Hebrew  criticism,  without  any  divine  warrant 
or  necessity.* 

Now  are  tliere  any  sinners  so  void  of  understanding, 
of  so  daring  and  desperate  a  mind,  as  to  venture  theiv 
eternal  all  upon  such  a  poor  criticism  of  words  ?  Even 
upon  supposition  these  terms  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew 
might  signify  any  long  duration  short  of  eternity,  yet 
there  is  a  terrible  hazard  in  coniining  tliera  to  this  sense, 
since  they  do  not  denote  a  proper  eternity,  when  they 
describe  the  duration  of  the  blessed  God ;  and  1  think 
we  may  add  also,  the  duration  of  the  happiness  of  th? 
saints. 

*  The  Word  aid toi  perpetual,  is  also  applied  to  the  chains  of  devils,  Jiidr. 
vi.  as  well  as  to  God,  liom.  i.  and  however  the  word  cctuv  and  uiavi^  may  be 
used  for  ages  or  periods  in  this  world,  yet  uicovs^  rtrjv  etiavaiv  or  a^es  of  ages, 
is  never  applied  in  all  the  New  Testament  to  any  thing  but  God  or  Christ,  ov 
the  bles^eibiess  of  saints,  or  the  punishment  of  sinners  ,-  and  therefore  we  ma} 
well  conclude,  that  all  these  four  run  into  an  eternity  beyond  all  the  supposes, 
periods  of  this  world,  and  far  beyond  all  our  conception-? 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  419 

Besides,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  other  expres- 
sions of  scripture,  which  denote  and  pronounce  the  per- 
petuity or  eternity  of  these  punishments,  are  not  liable  to 
tlie  same  criticism  or  ambiguity  of  a  word.  Their  fire 
shall  be  unquenchable ^  or  is  not  quenched,  their  worm 
dieth  not.  They  have  no  rest  day  nor  night ;  they  shall 
he  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever  ;  Rev. 
XX.  10.  These  expressions  seem  to  carry  with  them  a 
more  certain  signification  of  the  perpetual  continuance  of 
the  punishment.  Now  can  the  tempter  and  tlie  deceiver 
of  souls  have  so  unhappy  an  influence  over  you,  as  to 
persuade  you  to  venture  onward  in  the  patlis  of  sin,  to 
put  oft*  religion,  and  delay  your  repentance,  and  neglect 
the  means  of  salvation,  in  hopes  that  hereafter  this  weak 
criticism,  upon  some  of  the  threatenings,  may  take  place 
before  the  Judge  of  the  whole  earth,  and  thus  excuse  or 
•save  you  ?  Is  not  such  a  sorry  refuge  and  presumption 
a  dangerous  and  a  dismal  sign  upon  impenitent  sinners, 
that  sin  and  satan  have  darkened  your  understanding, 
and  confounded  your  judgment,  as  well  as  hardened 
your  hearts,  in  order  to  your  everlasting  destruction  ? 

Answer  2.  Suppose  the  punishments  of  hell  continue 
only  for  a  long  time,  and  not  for  an  endless  immortality, 
yet  this  time  would  certainly  be  found  exceeding  long 
for  sinners  to  bear  the  torment  even  according  to  their 
own  criticisms.  Let  us  consider  this  matter  under  some 
particulars.  The  Jewish  dispensation  which  is  some- 
times called  everlasting,  stood  near  about  fifteen  hundred 
years,  from  Moses  to  Christ ;  and  are  ye  content  to  lan- 
guish and  groan  under  torments  and  miseries,  for  fifteen 
hundred  years,  merely  to  satisfy  your  vicious  appetite  of 
pleasure  for  a  few  days,  or  a  few  years,  of  this  mortal 
life? 

Again.  The  rebellious  sinners  who  were  destroyed 
at  the  flood,  and  their  spirits  which  were  sent  into  the 
prison  of  hades  or  hell,  were  certainly  confined  there 


4S0        THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

four  and  twenty  hundred  years.  And  if  they  were  re- 
leased then,  as  some  imagine,  by  the  preaching  of  Christ 
to  them,  it  is  a  long  and  dreadful  time  to  continue  under 
the  vengeance  of  God  ;  and  is  it  worth  while  for  any 
man  to  continue  in  sin  on  earth,  and  to  venture  this 
length  of  punishment  in  hell  ? 

What  I  build  these  computations  upon,  are  some  ex- 
pressions of  St.  Peter,  1  Epistle  iii.  19,  20,  where  Christ 
is  said  to  preach  unto  the  spirits  in  prison,  which  some 
time  were  disobedient,  ivhen  once  the  long-suffering  of 
God  waited  in  the  days  of  JVoah.  Some  have  supposed 
that  this  text  informs  us  of  Christ's  descent  into  hell 
after  his  death,  and  then  preaching  to  those  rebels  who 
were  drowned  in  the  flood,  near  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred years  before,  in  order  to  awaken  them  to  repent- 
ance and  salvation ;  whereas  others  think  this  text  may 
be  better  expounded  concerning  the  spirit  of  Christ  given 
to  Noah,  which  made  him  a  preacher  of  righteousness, 
when  he  foretold  and  threatened  a  flood  of  waters,  and 
called  men  to  repentance. 

But  if  it  should  be  granted  that  those  rebellious  spirits 
among  the  dead  did  all  repent,  and  were  delivered  by 
this  preachil^g  of  Clirist,  would  you  choose  to  indulge 
the  delights  of  sin  for  a  short  season^  and  venture  twen- 
ty-four hundred  years  of  torment  and  anguish  for  it  ? 

Yet  further — The  devils  have  lain  under  punislniient 
near  six  thousand  years,  viz.  four  thousand  before  Christ 
came,  and  almost  two  thousand  years  since,  which  may 
be  thus  computed  from  what  St.  Jude  says  of  them. 
^\\^  angels  who  kept  not  their  first  station,  thej  were  cast 
into  chains  of  darkness,  probably  before  the  creation  of 
this  our  world,  for  they  were  fallen,  and  tempted  Adam 
to  sin  as  soon  as  this  world  was  made.  And  they  had 
been  confined  in  these  chains  from  that  time  about  four 
thousand  years  before  Clirist  came,  and  are  waiting  still 
for  yet  sharper  punishment  at  the  judgment  of  the  great 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  421 

day  ;  Jude  vi. ;  and  it  is  evident  that  they  are  conscious 
of  this  terror,  and  this  future  increase  of  punishment ; 
for  they  expostulated  with  our  Saviour  ;  Matt.  viii.  29  ; 
Art  thou  eome  to  torment  us  before  the  time  P  Now  it  is 
near  two  thousand  years  since  Christ  came  ;  and  from 
the  time  of  their  sinning  unto  this  day,  it  is  almost  six 
thousand  years.  And  when  the  great  day  of  judgment 
comes,  their  fiercer  punishment  is  but  then  to  begin. 
And  are  not  the  devil  and  his  angels  sentenced  and  con- 
fined to  dwell  together  with  the  wicked  children  of 
Adam,  when  they  shall  be  consigned  at  that  dreadful 
day  to  the  same  everlasting  fire  and  torment,  which 
were  prepared  for  those  evil  spirits  ?  And  who  knows 
when  their  torment  will  end?  Now  what  folly  and 
hardness  of  heart,  or  rather  what  madness  is  it  for  men 
to  continue  in  their  sins,  to  delay  their  return  to  God, 
and  abandon  the  grace  of  the  gospel,  under  this  foolish 
flattery  and  wild  presumption,  that  above  six  thousand 
years  hence,  perhaps  a  certain  day  may  come  when  the 
worm  of  conscience  will  die,  and  the  fire  of  hell  will  be 
quenched  ?  Such  presumption  is  madness  and  distrac- 
tion rather  than  reasoning. 

The  second  objection  is  derived  from  the  justice  and 
equity  of  God.  Surely  may  some  person  say,  the  j'jstice 
of  God  will  proportion  the  punishment  to  tlie  offence  ; 
but  since  our  sins  are  but  the  actions  of  mortal  and  short 
lived  creatures,  and  are  committed  in  a  few  years  of 
time,  why  should  the  punishment  be  immortal,  and  the 
angels  be  lengthened  out  to  eternity  ?  Can  a  righteous 
God  pronounce  such  a  severe  and  unjust  sentence,  and 
execute  it  in  its  full  dimensions  ? 

Answer.  It  is  not  the  length  of  time  which  wicked 
men  spent  in  committing  their  sins,  nor  the  nature  of  the 
persons  who  have  sinned,  that  determines  the  measures 
of  punishment,  but  the  dignity  of  that  infinitely  glorious 
Being,  against  whom  sin  is  committed,  that  gives  such  a 


42S         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE  « 

iiigli  aggravation  as  to  require  puuisliment  without  entl.  * 

How  many  instances  are  there  amongst  men  wherein 
offeiiilcrs  against  their  neighbors,  or  against  a  magistrate, 
who  spent  but  a  few  moments  in  tlic  crime,  yet  are  doom- 
ed to  imprisonment  for  months  and  years  ?  And  a  lower 
degree  of  trespass  against  a  king,  which  is  sliort  of  high 
treason,  is  sometimes  punished  \\  itli  confiscation  of  goods, 
and  with  poverty  aud  close  imprisonment  for  life.  And 
by  the  same  reason,  the  sins  of  men  being  committed 
against  a  God  of  infinite  majesty,  require  an  endless 
punishment,  as  I  have  proved  in  the  second  argument ; 
and  therefore  divine  justice  pronounces  or  inflicts  no 
longer  penalty  than  the  crimes  of  men  deserve,  according 
to  their  aggravations.  If  any  sinners  tarry  then  till  they 
have  paid  the  utmost  farthing  to  divine  justice,  I  grant 
God  will  release  them,  but  he  has  given  us  no  hope 
before. 

The  tliird  objection  is  drawn  from  the  sovereignty  and 
goodness  of  God.  It  is  granted,  say  they,  tliat  the 
tlu'eatenings  of  eternal  death  are  denounced  against  sin- 
ners in  scripture,  yet  it  is  not  necessary  God  should 
execute  them  to  the  full.     When  a  laic  is  made  the  I 

threatenings  of  it  only  declare  what  punishment  the  of- 
fender shall  be  exposed  to,  and  shall  be  obliged  to  bear 
when  it  is  inflicted ;  but  these  expressions  in  a  law  do 
not  oblige  the  government  to  inflict  that  sentence  with  all 
its  terrors.  It  is  granted,  that  in  the  case  of  promises. 
truth  and  veracity  oblige  the  promiser  to  fulfil  them 
punctually,  because  the  right  of  the  thing  promised  passes 
over  to  that  other  person  to  whom  the  promise  was  made ; 
and  he  hath  such  a  right  to  require  it,  that  it  is  injustice 
to  withhold  it  from  him  ;  and  therefore  everlasting  felicity 
must  be  given  to  the  righteous.  But  in  threatenings  the 
case  is  otherwise  ;  for  though  the  full  punishment  is  due 
to  sinners,  yet  they  will  never  require  the  execution  of 
it :  and  the  goodness  of  God  will  incline  him  to  relieve 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  4i23 

tlie  sufferer,  and  to  release  him  from  the  severity  of 
such  a  punishment,  wliere  his  veracity  or  truth,  does  not 
forbid  it. 

To  this  I  answer  two  ways. 

1.  I  will  not  debate  this  point  of  law  now,  how  far  a 
governor  of  sovereign  and  absolute  authority  can  dis- 
pense with  his  own  thrcatenings,  can  omit  the  execution 
of  them,  relax  the  degree  of  threatened  punishment,  or 
shorten  the  duration  of  it.  But  let  it  be  considered,  tliat 
here  is  not  only  the  threatening  of  a  God;^  the  universal 
Governor,  but  the  prediction  of  this  eternal  punishment, 
by  a  God  who  cannot  lie.  God's  own  truth  and  veracity 
are  concerned  in  this  case,  since  his  Son  Jesus,  wiio  is 
the  greatest  of  his  messengers,  together  with  the  prophets 
and  apostles,  have  in  the  name  cf  God  often  foretold, 
that  these  punishments  shall  be  eternal.  And  therefore 
whatsoever  an  absolute  governor  might  do,  as  to  short- 
ening the  punishment  threatened^  in  a  way  of  mercy  and 
relaxation,  yet  I  cannot  see  how  the  trutli  and  veracity 
of  God  himself,  or  the  veracity  of  his  Sou  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  the  great  Prophet,  or  the  trutli  of  tlie  rest  of  his 
prophets  and  messengers  can  be  maintained,  if  this  pun- 
ishment be  not  executed  according  to  the  many  express 
predictions  of  it.  These  all  agree  to  tell  us  by  inspira- 
tion from  heaven,  in  various  forms  of  speech,  that  the 
torments  of  hell  shall  be  everlasting ;  and  as  I  hinted 
before,  the  man  Jesus  who  pronounces  this  eternal  sen- 
tence as  a  Lo^d  and  a  Judge,  foretels  it  also  as  a  Prophet, 
that  the  execution  of  it  shall  be  to  all  everlasting. 

Answer  2.  Obstinate  and  impenitent  sinners  have  no 
reason  to  expect,  that  the  goodness  of  God  should  release 
them  from  their  miseries,  since  the  justice  and  the  holi- 
ness, the  righteous  government  and  authority  of  God  in 
his  law  require  and  demand  their  due  of  honor,  as  well 
as  his  goodness.  Do  we  not  see  these  honors  of  divine 
justice,  and  of  God's  hatred  of  sin,  have  been  continually 


424  THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  TtlE 

demanded  aud  executed  in  the  infinite  and  innumerable 
evils,  sorrows,  miseries  diseases  and  deaths,thatliave  been 
spread  over  this  world  almost  six  thousand  years  because 
of  sin  ?  Nor  does  his  goodness  forbid  or  hinder  it. 

And  let  it  be  remembered  too,  that  all  this  immense 
variety  and  long  succession  of  plagues  and  terrors  arose 
originally  from  the  just  indignation  and  resentment  of 
God  against  one  sin,  even  that  of  the  first  man.  Who 
was  it  that  burnt  Sodom  and  Gromorrha  with  fire  from 
heaven  ?  Who  was  it  that  chained  fallen  angels  in  dark- 
ness to  a  more  terrible  judgment  ?  Was  it  not  a  Grod  of 
supreme  goodness  ?  Who  sent  famines,  and  pestilences, 
and  slaughters  all  over  the  earth  in  many  distinct  genera- 
tions, whereby  mankind  have  been  made  abundantly 
wretched,  and  plunged  into  millions  of  distresses  ?  And 
yet  the  sroodness  of  God  abides  for  ever.  And  while  the 
great  God  is  acting  according  to  the  glories  of  his  nature 
and  government,  in  punishing  rebellious  creatures,  his 
goodness  will  feel  no  soft  and  sensible  impressions  from 
all  their  groans  and  outcries  ;  but  if  I  may  so  express  it, 
will  be  changed  into  just  indignation  witliout  end.  And 
the  language  of  it  to  those  impenitent  wretches  will  be 
this,  "  because  1  have  called  and  ye  refused  ;  ye  have  set 
at  naught  all  my  counsel,  and  would  none  of  ray  reproof, 
I  will  laugh  at  your  calamity,  1  will  mock  when  your 
fear  cometh  ;  when  your  fear  cometh  as  desolation,  and 
your  destruction  as  a  whirlwind  ;  when  distress  and  an- 
guish cometh  upon  you,  then  shall  ye  call  jipon  me,  but 
I  will  not  answer ;  ye  shall  seek  me  early,  but  ye  shall 
not  find  me ;  for  ye  hated  knowledge,  and  did  not  choose 
the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Ye  would  none  of  my  counsels,  ye 
despised  all  my  rebukes  ;  therefore  shall  ye  eat  of  the 
fruit  of  your  own  way,  and  be  filled  with  your  own  de- 
vices ;"  Prov.  i.  Take  them,  angels,  "  bind  them  hand 
and  foot,  aud  cast  them  into  everlasting  fire  and  utter 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL,  4g5 

darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping,  and  wailing,  and 
gnashing  of  teeth ;"  Matt.  xxii.  13. 

Let  us  cease  then  to  murmur  against  the  threatenings 
and  the  transactions  of  the  great  God,  till  we  are  be- 
come fitter  judges  of  his  perfections  and  their  demands. 
Let  us  cavil  no  more  against  his  conduct  and  govern- 
ment, till  we  can  teach  him  how  far  his  punishing  justice 
shall  go  in  the  execution  of  his  threatenings,  and  till  we 
can  assign  to  liim  the  point  and  limit  where  liis  good- 
ness shall  interpose  and  restrain  that  justice. 

lihefoarth  objection  is  derived  from  the  rectitude  of 
the  nature  of  God^  or  his  common  equity  and  mercy  unit- 
ed, which  has  bt^.n  represented  in  this  manner.  Sup- 
pose one  of  the  damned  spirits  among  mankind  should 
address  himself  to  the  great  Grod  in  such  sort  of  language 
as  this,  "Lord,  I  was  created  by  thy  sovereign  pleasure 
without  my  own  will,  I  did  not  desire  to  be  made,  much 
less  to  be  born  in  such  a  relation  to  Adam,  whereby  I 
brought  a  sinful  nature  into  the  world  with  me  ;  but  I 
was  united  by  thy  power  and  pleasure  to  a  body  which 
had  the  seeds  of  sin  and  misery  in  it.  There  were 
strong  appetites  and  violent  passions  mingled  with  my 
flesh  and  blood,  which  1  myself  had  no  hand  in  procur- 
ing ;  they  fermented  in  me  with  much  vehemence,  and 
I  was  tempted  to  many  excesses.  I  made  some  resist- 
ance at  first,  and  many  times  tried  to  subdue  them,  but 
I  was  overcome.  At  last  I  suffered  myself  to  be  carried 
aM^ay  by  the  stream  of  tliese  sinful  affections  and  appe- 
tites, which  1  could  not  possibly  avoid,  nor  easily  sub- 
due. Is  it  agreeable  to  thine  equity,  O  blessed  God,  to 
punish  such  a  poor  wretch  with  everlasting  torments? 
And  can  thy  mercy  continue  to  see  this  my  misery  for 
ever  and  ever,  and  not  help  me  ?  I  entreat  thee,  O  thou 
almighty  Author  of  ray  being,  to  destroy  and  annihilate 
me  utterly  soul  and  body  ;  take  away  this  being  which 
I  never  asked  nor  desired  ;  nay,  which  I  would  not  havi* 

04 


I 


426         THE  ETERNAL  DUKATION  OF  THE  ^ 

consented  to  accept  among  the  sinful  race  of  mankind, 
because  in  this  track  of  generation  and  existence  I  stood 
much  more  likely  to  be  miserable  than  to  be  happy." 

Answer  1.  As  for  the  reasonableness  and  ecjuity  of 
the  conveyance  and  communication  of  the  original  effects 
of  the  sin  of  Adam  through  every  generation  of  man,  it 
is  granted  there  are  some  difficulties  attending  it ;  but 
these  are  generally  answered  by  the  writers  on  that  sub- 
ject ;  and  for  me  to  divert  from  my  present  discourse,  in 
order  to  debate  this  point  here,  would  be  too  tedious. 

The  equity  of  this  wise  and  awful  constitution  of  God 
has  been  lately  vindicated  in  a  large  treatise  on  the  ruin 
and  recovery  of  mankind,  especially  in  the  second  edition 
of  that  book.  But  it  is  enough  for  my  present  argument 
to  say,  that  God  himself  will  make  the  equity  of  his 
constitution  to  appear  with  much  more  evidence  and 
conviction  in  the  last  great  day,  when  millions  of  actual 
criminals  shall  stand  before  the  judgment-seat,  who  owe 
the  first  spring  of  their  sin  and  ruin  to  our  common 
parent,  and  yet  will  fall  under  the  righteous  condemna- 
tion of  the  Judge.  • 

Answer  2.  When  God  decreed  to  give  thee  a  being,  ■ 

O  sinner,  and  designed  thee  in  his  eternal  ideas  to  be  a 
man,  placed  among  a  thousand  blessings  of  nature  and 
providence,  it  was  then  a  favor  of  thy  Creator  ;  for  thou 
wert  designed  also  in  this  original  divine  idea,,  to  have 
full  sufficiency  of  power  to  become  wise  and  happy.  It 
was  also  a  favor  from  thy  Creator,  tSiat  he  took  all  these 
thy  sufficieuces  of  power,  and  put  them  into  the  hand  of 
one  man,  even  the  father  of  tliy  race,  because  he  was  as 
wise,  and  holy,  and  as  well  able  as  any  man  of  iiis  pos- 
terity could  be,  to  preserve  his  station  in  the  favor  of 
God,  and  to  secure  thy  happiness  together  with  liis  own  ; 
and  he  had  much  stronger  obligations  to  obey  his  Ma- 
ker, and  more  powerful  motives  to  secure  thy  happiness 
than  thou  thyself,  or  any  single  man  could  possibly  luive, 


I 


PU^^SHMENTS  OF  HELL.  'iS7 

because  he  was  intrusted  with  the  felicity  of  so  many 
jiiillions  of  his  own  dear  offspring,  as  well  as  his  own. 
Now  though  Adam,  thy  first  father,  being  thus  furnished 
with  sufficiences  of  power,  and  with  the  strongest  obli- 
gations to  preserve  himself  and  thee,  has  actually  sinned 
and  ruined  himself  and  his  offspring;  (this  is  indeed  an 
unhappy  truth  ;)  but  the  great  God  is  not  to  blame,  who 
has  not  only  acted  wisely,  but  kindly  towards  his  crea- 
tures in  this  constitution,  because  so  far  as  we  can  judge, 
it  was  much  more  probable  that  Adam  would  have 
maintained  his  innocence  and  his  happiness,  together 
with  that  of  his  offspring. 

tRgain.  When  the  race  of  man  was  ruined,  and  God 
saw  that  every  man  would  come  into  the  world  under 
unhappy  circumstances  of  guilt  and  corruption  of  nature, 
3ie  provided  a  covenant  of  grace,  and  brought  thee  into 
some  knowledge  of  it.  And  this  had  been  effectual  to 
have  recovered  and  saved  thee  from  the  ruins  of  the  fall, 
if  thou  hadst  exerted  all  thy  force,  employed  all  thy  nat- 
ural powers  of  understanding  and  will  for  this  purpose, 
and  used  all  thy  diligence  to  follow  the  methods  of  his 
grace,  and  hadst  sought  earnestly  for  divine  aids.  For 
there  is  no  man  among  the  damned  is  able  to  say,  /  have 
done  every  thing  that  was  in  my  power  to  do.  No  man 
shall  be  condemned  for  what  was  utterly  impossible  for 
liim  to  avoid.  It  is  confessed  indeed,  thou  art  laid  un- 
der some  hardships  and  difficulties  by  the  sin  of  thy  first 
father ;  yet  it  is  thine  own  actual  and  personal  crimes  for 
which  thou  art  here  condemned  at  this  judgment,  wherein 
every  one  shall  be  judged  and  rewarded  according  to  his 
works.  It  is  for  many  wilful  offences  against  the  law 
of  God,  and  for  sinning  against  the  offers  of  divine 
gi'ace ;  it  is  for  obstinacy  against  thy  own  conscience, 
and  all  the  outward  and  inward  monitions  of  tliy  duty, 
that  thou  art  fallen  under  this  sentence,  and  because 
thou  didst  not  labor  and  strive  against  sin,  and  resist  it 


438         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OP  THE 

even  to  the  end  of  thy  state  of  life  and  trial.  Thou  hast 
had  many  an  inward  reproof  for  sin,  many  a  secret  or 
public  call  to  virtue,  and  perhaps  loud  and  fair  warn- 
ings of  thy  danger  ;  but  thou  hast  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
them  all,  and  it  is  thy  own  folly,  obstinacy,  and  iniquity, 
that  have  brought  thee  into  this  misery,  and  thou  must 
eat  the  fruit  of  thy  own  works. 

If  there  should  be  any  person  found  indeed  among 
Jews,  Gentiles  or  christians,  who  can  justly  complain, 
/  have  not  had  a  fair  and  full  state  of  trial,  and  yet  I 
am  condemned,  I  think  we  may  grant  that  the  righteous 
God  will  release  such  from  their  misery,  after  they  have 
worn  out  a  proper  number  of  years  in  punishment  pro- 
portionable to  their  past  crimes  ;  and  that  there  shall 
be  a  fair,  and  full,  and  proper  state  of  trial  appointed  to 
them  before  they  shall  be  utterly  and  irretrievably  mis- 
erable. But  if  no  such  person  be  found  there,  if  there 
be  no  such  just  complaint  to  be  made  among  the  millions 
of  the  damned,  then  they  may  be  still  continued  in  their 
prison  and  punishment  without  any  imputation  upon 
divine  justice  and  equity. 

Jhiswer  3.  Whensoever  any  such  criminal  in  hell 
shall  be  found  making  such  a  sincere  and  mournful  ad- 
dress to  the  righteous  and  merciful  Judge  of  all,  if  at  the 
same  time  he  is  truly  humble  and  penitent  for  his  past 
sins,  and  is  grieved  at  his  heart  for  having  offended  his 
Maker,  and  melts  into  sincere  repentance,  I  cannot  think 
that  a  God  of  perfect  equity  and  rich  mercy  will  continue 
such  a  creature  under  his  vengeance  ;  but  rather,  that 
the  perfections  of  God  will  contrive  a  way  for  escape ; 
though  God  has  not  given  us  here  any  revelation  or  dis- 
covery of  such  special  grace  as  this. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  whatever  melting  and  moving 
speeches  may  be  made  by  sinners  here  on  earth,  in  com- 
passion to  the  sinners  who  are  gone  before  them  to  hell, 
yet  if  no  such  person  be  ever  found  in  hell,  truly  and 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  439 

humbly  repenting  of  his  sins,  nor  have  we  any  reason 
to  think  there  ever  will,  why  should  a  righteous  God 
be  obliged  to  cease  punishing  a  rebel  who  only  is  vexed 
and  raged  under  his  own  chains,  and  who  continues  in 
the  spirit  of  obstinacy,  and  rebellion  against  God,  and 
will  not  repent  of  it  ? 

Objection  the  fifth  is  derived  from  the  mercy  and  com^ 
'passion  of  a  Gody  comj)ared  with  the  mercy  and  com- 
passion of  man.  Surely  the  compassion  of  the  ever- 
blessed  God,  who  has  described  himself  rich  in  mercy, 
abundant  in  goodness,  and  whose  very  name  is  love, 

1  John  iv.  8,  must  have  transcendent  tenderness  and  pity 
towards  his  creatures,  the  work  of  his  hands,  above  all  the 
compassions  that  any  fellow-creature  can  express  towards 
another.  Now  the  very  thought  and  name  of  eternal  pun- 
ishments, or  endless  torment  is  such  as  seems  to  shock  the 
nature  of  a  good  natured  man  ;  and  though  he  was  never 
so  much  injured,  yet  he  would  never  have  a  thought  of 
wishing  his  enemy  any  kind  of  eternal  punishment  for 
it,  much  less  of  condemning  him  to  everlasting  misery, 
and  supporting  him  in  being  on  purpose  to  suffer  it ; 
and  therefore  we  cannot  suppose  that  God  will  do  it. 

This  objection  is  further  strengthened  by  an  expres- 
sion of  our  Saviour  himself,  who  says,  Mark  xviii.  19, 
There  is  none  goody  save  one,  that  is  God ;  as  much 
as  to  say,  there  is  none  equal  or  comparable  in  good- 
ness to  God  himself.  And  it  is  further  supported  still 
by  the  common  notions  which  good  men  have  of  God  ; 
those  expressions  in  the  apocryphal  writings  confirm  it, 

2  Esd.  V.  33  ;  "  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  me,  thou  art 
sore  troubled  in  mind  for  Israel.  Lovest  thou  that  peo- 
ple more  than  he  that  made  them  ?"  And  in  the  same 
book,  chapter  viii.  47  ;  Thou  comestfar  short,  that  thou 
shouldest  be  able  to  love  my  creature  more  than  I.  Now 
since  no  good  man  could  wish  such  a  curse  or  mischief 
to  his  worst  and  most  wicked  enemy,  as  torment  without 


430        THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

end^  surelj^  we  cannot  conceive  the  great  God  will  ever 
be  so  severe  as  to  inflict  it. 

Jinswer  i.  It  is  readily  allowed,  that  God  has  more 
goodness  than  any  creature ;  but  God  has  also  more 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  which  concur  with  his  good- 
ness in  all  his  actions  j  and  he  forms  a  much  juster  judg- 
ment concerning  the  evil  and  demerits  of  sin  and  rebel- 
lion against  himself,  than  it  is  possible  for  any  creature 
to  form.  And  I  think  I  may  boldly  assert,  none  can 
know  the  complete  evil  of  sin,  or  its  lull  desert,  but  that 
same  glorious  Being  against  wliom  sin  is  committed, 
who  knows  well  the  dignity  of  his  own  nature  and  his 
own  law,  and  what  unspeakable  injury  is  done  thereto 
by  the  sins  of  men.  Now  his  goodness  in  all  his  trans- 
actions must  be  re2;ulated  and  limited  bv  this  infinite 
wisdom  ;  and  if  a  man  docs  not  see  and  consent  to  the 
just  demerits  of  sin  against  his  Maker,  it  is  because  he 
has  less  wisdom  and  knowledge  than  the  great  God  has  ; 
and  his  tenderness  and  compassion  may  run  into  very 
great  excesses,  and  may  be  in  some  instances  a  sign  of 
his  weakness  and  folly,  as  well  as  of  his  goodness  and 
pity,  as  I  shall  shew  under  tlie  next  answer. 

At  present  let  us  represent  the  case  in  a  common  in- 
stance. When  criminals  go  to  execution  from  month  to 
month,  or  from  year  to  year,  in  this  great  city  ;  and  es- 
pecially if  some  of  them  have  a  handsome  and  agreea- 
ble appearance,  and  if  they  are  Avringing  tlieir  hands 
with  outcries,  and  vexing  their  own  hearts,  and  are 
stung  by  their  own  consciences  for  their  having  brought 
this  misery  upon  themselves,  you  will  find  several  of  the 
spectators  of  so  tender  a  make  as  to  grieve  for  tlie  exe- 
cution of  such  criminals,  and  to  wish  in  their  hearts  it 
was  in  their  power  to  save  them.  And  yet  further,  if 
there  are  numbers  of  these  wicked  creatures  that  are 
sent  at  once  to  the  punishment  of  the  sword  or  the  gal- 
lowS;,  there  may  be  many  of  these  spectators  grieviiig 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELlr.  431 

for  tliem,  and  pitying  them,  and  perhaps  exclaiming 
against  the  severity  of  the  law,  and  the  cruelty  of  the 
judge,  for  condemning  such  malefactors  to  death. 

But  do  all  these  weepers  and  complainants  judge 
justly  of  the  case  ?  Do  they  consider  how  pernicious  and 
ruinous  a  thing  it  would  he  to  a  government  to  let  such 
traitors  go  unpunished  ?  JOo  they  know,  that  is  a  piece 
of  clemency  and  goodness  to  the  innocent  to  punish  the 
wicked  ?  Or  that  it  is  a  piece  of  necessary  honor  due  to 
the  laws^  to  make  those  who  insolently  break  them,  sus- 
tain the  penalty  that  the  law  has  appointed  ?  Do  they 
remember  that  the  few  good  qualities,  or  supposed  tal- 
ents, or  fine  appearances  which  these  offenders  are  pos- 
sessed of,  should  outweigh  the  demands  of  the  law  and 
justice,  the  peace  of  the  nation  or  kingdom,  and  the  re- 
straint of  others  from  the  same  crimes  ? 

Answer  2.  The  goodness  of  God,  the  eternal  Spirit, 
is  a  much  superior  thing  to  the  tenderness  and  compas- 
sion of  man  dwelling  in  flesh  and  blood.  Man  grows 
compassionate  by  a  sort  of  sympathy  or  sensation  of  the 
miseries  which  liis  fellow-creatures  endure  ;  and  though 
this  is  exceeding  useful  for  many  purposes  of  human 
life,  and  therefore  God  planted  it  in  our  natures,  yet  it 
lias  so  much  mixture  of  animal  nature  with  it,  that  it  fre- 
quently degenerates  into  weakness,  fondness,  and  folly. 
And  indeed,  if  every  tender  creature  must  be  gratified 
in  this  weakness,  and  form  the  rules  of  government,  there 
would  never  a  malefactor  fall  under  execution  ;  but  the 
vilest  criminals  would  be  spared,  though  the  government 
were  ruined. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  goodness  or  mercy  of  God  is  a 
sedate  willingness  or  design  to  do  good  to  creatures,  and 
particularly  to  the  miserable,  but  always  according  to  the 
directions  of  wisdom  and  holiness.  As  God  cannot  have 
such  anger,  resentment,  or  cruelty  in  his  nature,  as  man- 
kind may  fall  into  when  they  are  punishing  offenders, 


4*32         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

SO  properly  speaking,  he  has  no  such  sort  of  passionate 
tenderness'  and  sympathy  in  sparing  them.  Though 
the  words  of  greatest  affection  are  sometimes  used  by 
the  sacrpd  writers  to  figure  out  the  mercies  of  God  to 
man,  yet  God  both  punishes  and  spares  according  to 
the  calm  and  righteous  exercises  of  his  wisdom,  and  not 
under  the  influence  of  such  passions  as  we  feel. 

Since,  therefore,  the  exercise  of  such  sort  of  passions 
among  men  oftentimes  appears  to  be  the  weakness  of 
nature,  joined  with  their  ignorance  of  the  rules  of  equity, 
is  it  reasonable  that  the  great  and  all-wise  God  should 
make  such  creatures  his  patterns  in  the  limitation  of  the 
exercises  of  his  justice?  Or  that  he  should  be  as  weak 
as  they  are,  and  as  much  moved  to  swerve  from  the  rules 
of  his  own  righteous  government,  by  such  a  sort  of  ten- 
derness as  ignorant,  weak,  and  foolish  man  may  some- 
times express  towards  criminals  in  tlieir  deserved 
misery  ? 

It  is  readily  granted,  that  a  wise  and  a  good  man  may 
and  ought  to  be  sorry  and  grieved,  that  any  of  his  fel- 
fow-creatures  should  be  so  vicious  as  to  bring  themselves 
under  so  severe  a  penalty  by  their  own  wilful  crimes  ; 
but  still  in  their  calmest  and  wisest  thoughts  they  ac- 
knowledge the  wisdom  and  equity  of  the  government, 
in  inflicting  such  penalties  upon  those  who  heinously 
offend ;  and  they  acquiesce  in  the  sentence  and  the  ex- 
ecution. 

Our  blessed  Lord  Jesus  himself,  who  was  the  wisest 
and  the  best  of  creatures,  looked  upon  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem with  an  eye  of  compassion,  and  wept  over  it ;  Luke 
xiii.  34* ;  ^'  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the 
prophets,  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee,  how 
often  would  1  have  gathered  thy  children  as  a  hen  doth 
gather  licr  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not  ? 
Therefore  behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate  '' 
Let  it  be  observed  here,  that  our  Saviour  had  the  bowels. 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  433 

and  compassions^,  and  tenderness  of  the  best  of  men ; 
but  he  still  maintains  the  vindictive  exercise  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  God.  ^*' Your  desolation  must  and  shall  come 
upon  you,  nor  will  I  forbid  or  withhold  it."  And  I  am 
sure  the  human  nature  of  our  blessed  Saviour  was 
formed  nearest  to  the  image  of  God  beyond  any  creature 
besides  ;  and  as  I  have  hinted  before,  it  is  he  who  is  the 
supreme  messenger  of  his  Father's  love,  that  has  pro- 
nounced these  eternal  punishments  upon  impenitent  sin- 
ners in  many  parts  of  his  ministry. 

Ansicer  3.  How  far  will  these  ohjectors  permit,  the 
justice  of  God  to  go  in  the  punishment  of  impenitent 
sinners  ?  If  eternal  punishment  must  neither  be  threat- 
ened nor  inflicted,  lest  divine  goodness  be  injured,  then 
all  mankind,  even  the  worst  and  vilest  of  criminals, 
must  certainly  be  one  day  delivered  from  their  miseries  ; 
and  thus  the  great  God,  who  is  infinitely  offended,  is 
bound  to  finish  his  wrath  one  day,  and  return  in  mercy 
to  the  offenders,  whether  they  return  to  him  by  repent- 
ance or  no.  What !  May  the  criminal  rebel  creature 
with  impudence  and  spite  affront  the  Creator  infinitely, 
and  must  not  the  Creator  have  a  right  to  demand  equal 
vengeance  ?  No ;  he  must  not,  according  to  these 
writers  ;  for  if  the  essential  goodness  of  God  do  certainly 
forbid  eternal  punishments,  these  absurdities,  as  gross 
as  they  appear,  will  be  the  necessary  consequences  of  it. 
And  tiiough  the  creature  be  not  restrained  from  sinning, 
yet  the  blessed  God  will  be  utterly  restrained  from  pun- 
ishing. And  is  this  a  doctrine  fit  to  be  believed  by 
christians,  or  to  l)e  taught  by  those  who  have  no  com- 
mission for  it  from  their  Bible  ?  Or  indeed,  will  the 
light  of  nature  and  reason  ever  justify  and  support  this 
sort  of  pleading  ? 

Objection  the  sixth  is  drawn  from  the  wisdom  of  God 
in  his  government  of  the  world.  Surely,  will  the  sinner 
say,  it  was  for  some  valuable  end  that  God  at  first  pro- 

55 


434         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

nounced  punishment  to  attend  the  sins  of  his  creatures  ; 
for  lie  does  not  afflict  willingly,  nor  delight  to  grieve 
the  children  of  men  ;  his  design  must  be  therefore  one 
of  these  two  things;  either  to  correct,  and  reform  the 
sinners  whom  he  punishes,  and  reduce  them  to  their 
duty,  in  order  to  partake  of  his  mercy,  or  else  it  must  be 
to  maintain  a  jJublic  monument  and  dejnonstration  of  his 
justice,  and  to  support  the  authority  of  his  law,  and 
honor  of  his  government,  that  he  might  deter  other  crea- 
tures from  sinning  against  him.  But  when  this  world 
is  come  to  its  period,  and  his  governing  providence  over 
it  is  finished,  and  all  the  means  of  grace  are  ended,  the 
first  end,  viz.  correction  and  reformation,  ceases.  Tlierc 
is  no  more  hope  of  reforming  such  sinners  as  these.  And 
what  further  need  can  there  be  of  the  secondary  design 
of  punishment,  viz.  the  demonstration  of  his  justice  in 
so  terrible  a  manner  to  restrain  others  from  sinning, 
when  the  state  of  our  trial  is  ended,  and  all  mankind  are 
sent  either  to  heaven  or  hell  ? 

Ansicer  1.  1  might  here  reply  by  way  of  concession, 
that  if  there  were  no  other  intelligent  creatures  to  be 
witnesses  of  these  eternal  demonstrations  of  God's  holi- 
ness, his  justice,  and  his  hatred  of  sin  ;  and  if  God  him- 
self was  tlie  only  Being  who  knew  of  these  eternal  pun- 
ishments, I  acknowledge  I  cannot  see  sufficient  reason 
for  this  endless  duration  of  them ;  I  cannot  give  any 
probable  account  why  creatures  who  are  never  to  ])c  cor- 
rected and  reformed,  should  be  tormented  for  ever  in 
secret ;  God  perfectly  knows  his  own  holiness  and  jus- 
tice without  such  monuments  of  it ;  and  since  he  has  as- 
serted this  punishment,  I  think  there  must  be  some  crea- 
tures to  receive  amoral  influence  from  the  Icnowledge  of  it. 

I  answer  secondly.  When  there  is  a  representation 
made  of  the  punishment  of  the  worshippers  of  the  beast 
in  Rev.  xiv  10,  11,  tliat  they  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of 
the  wrath  of  God  which  is  jioured  out  without  mixture  : 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  435 

and  they  shall  he  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  ;  and 
the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  for  ever  and  ever, 
it  is  in  the  jtresence  of  the  holy  angels,  as  well  as  ia  the 
jrresence  of  the  Lamb.  Angels  and  otlier  innocent  be- 
ings may  improve  such  a  sight  to  valuable  purposes. 

Objection  the  seventh.  When  we  remember  that 
Jesus  Christ  himself  hath  assured  us  that  but  few  shall 
he  saved,  and  that  the  broad  way  is  full  of  sinners  run- 
ning down  to  destruction  and  death  ;  if  we  suppose  these 
punishments  to  be  endless,  some  will  be  ready  to  say, 
What !  shall  the  greatest  part  of  God's  creatures  be 
made  miserable  for  ever  and  ever  ?  Is  this  consistent 
with  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  blessed  God,  to 
form  such  an  immense  multitude  of  souls  dwelling  in 
bodies,  to  make  them  for  ever  miserable  ?  What  will 
a  God  of  goodness  have  to  prove  his  goodness  to  his 
creatures,  if  far  the  greatest  part  of  them  are  left  in  ever- 
lasting sorrows  ? 

Answer.  The  far  greatest  part  of  the  creation  of  God 
may  be  holy  and  happy  still ;  for  this  world  of  ours, 
even  all  mankind,  is  a  very  small  portion  of  God's  im- 
mense dominions ;  and  when  the  transactions  of  our 
earth,  and  God's  present  government  of  it  shall  be  fin- 
ished, he  has  a  thousand  other  dominions  among  the 
planets  and  stars,  which  has  been  proved  by  the  reason 
of  men  to  a  great  degree  of  probability ;  and  these  he 
governs  by  righteous  laws  ;  and  though  he  has  not  re- 
vealed much  of  them  to  us  in  this  life,  yet  he  has  dis- 
covered something  of  this  kind  in  his  own  word.  He 
lias  acquainted  us  with  his  wise  and  righteous  govern- 
ment over  fallen  angels,  and  what  was  their  sin,  viz. 
their  pride  and  ambition,  and  what  was  their  punishment 
for  their  first  rebellion ;  Jude  vi. ;  and  this  is  done  by 
the  wisdom  and  mercy  of  God,  to  affright  men  from  sin-, 
ning,  while  we  behold  how  those  fallen  spirits  are  ex- 
posed and  set  forth  as  terrible  examples  for  our  warning. 


436         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

And  why  may  not  the  everlasting  punishment  of  sinners 
among  the  children  of  men  be  made  a  standing  mon- 
ument of  God's  justice,  to  deter  many  other  worlds  from 
offending  him  ?  Other  worlds,  I  say,  of  unknown  crea- 
tures, which  perhaps  may  inhabit  the  planetary  globes 
rolling  round  the  same  sun  as  our  earth  does  ;  and  their 
state  of  trial  perhaps  is  not  yet  begun,  or  it  may  be  half 
run  out,  and  yet  shall  not  be  finished  for  some  thousands 
of  years  ? 

Or  perhaps  there  are  other  worlds  of  spirits,  and  in- 
Yisible,  incorporeal,  intelligent  creatures,  in  a  state  of 
trial,  may  persevere  in  glorious  innocence  and  complete 
happiness,  to  the  eternal  praise  of  their  Maker's  good- 
ness ;  and  may  yet  be  kept  in  their  constant  duty  and 
obedience,  by  having  always  in  their  view  the  eternal 
punishments  of  wicked  men.  See  this  sulnject  treated  of 
more  at  large  in  a  book  called  The  Strength  and  Weak- 
ness  of  Human  Reason  ;  Sd  edition,  p.  288. 

The  counsels  of  God  are  far  above  our  reach ;  and 
his  dominions  and  governments  are  unknown  to  us. 
What  if  the  great  God  will  have  creatures  in  some  of  his 
territories,  who  in  themselves  are  weak  and  ready  to 
fall,  and  may  be  deterred  from  sin  and  apostacy  by  such 
standing  manifestations  of  his  hatred  of  it,  and  his  right- 
eous vengeance  against  it  ?  And  since  others  have  been 
monuments  of  warning  to  us,  what  if  he  please  to  make 
this  wicked  world  of  ours,  when  he  has  taken  the  few 
righteous  out  of  it  to  heaven,  1  say,  what  if  he  please  to 
make  the  rest  an  everlasting  spectacle  of  his  justice  and 
holiness,  to  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  other  worlds,  which 
may  be  utterly  unknown  to  us  ?  And  he  may,  for  this 
end,  reveal  his  transactions  with  mankind  to  those 
worlds,  though  he  has  not  revealed  much  of  their  affairs 
io  us. 

If  I  were  to   mention  any  other  objection  worthy  of 
notice,  I  know  of  none  but  this,  viz.  some  learned  men 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  437 

suppose  it  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  primitive 
fathers,  that  souls  departing  from  this  worhl  were  sent 
into  hades,  or  the  state  of  the  dead,  where  the  righteous 
rested  in  a  state  of  peace  and  hope,  till  the  resurrection 
should  bring  them  to  heaven  ;  and  the  most  wicked 
amongst  mankind  went  also  to  hades,  or  this  state  of  the 
dead,  under  a  long  and  fearful  expectation  of  the  final 
punishments  of  hell.  But  that  great  multitudes  who 
were  of  an  indifterent  character,  and  who  were  not  so 
bad  but  they  might  be  reclaimed,  had  another  state  of 
trial  in  hades,  whither,  they  say,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
at  his  death  descended,  and  preached  the  gospel  to  them ; 
and  many  of  them  were  recovered,  and  shall  be  hereafter 
raised  to  eternal  life.  The  chief  scripture  whence  they 
borrow  this,  is  1  Pet.  iii.  19,  SO ;  of  which  we  have 
spoken  before  ;  and  that  at  the  great  day  of  judgment, 
the  incorrigible  sinners  should  be  sent  with  the  devils 
into  the  punishment  of  fire,  which,  though  it  may  last  for 
a  shorter  or  longer  time,  yet  should  destroy  both  their 
bodies  and  their  souls  for  ever. 

To  this  I  answer  first.  If  this  had  been  the  doctrine  of 
many  ancient  christians,  yet  unless  they  could  bring 
plainer  proofs  of  it  from  the  word  of  Grod,  than  one  diffi- 
cult and  obscure  text  of  St.  Peter,  there  is  no  great  rea- 
son for  us  to  receive  from  them  such  traditions.  The 
word  of  God  is  our  only  test  of  truth,  and  our  instructor 
in  matters  of  the  invisible  world. 

Answer  2.  Though  there  might  be  a  few  of  the  early 
writers  who  seemed  to  incline  to  some  of  these  opinions, 
yet  this  sense  is  drawn  out  from  most  of  them  by  learned 
men  with  much  difficulty,  uncertainty,  and  conjecture. 
And  there  are  many  others  of  them  who  make  the  pun- 
ishments of  hell  as  durable  as  the  writers  of  later  ages. 
Nor  do  they  mention  or  allow  of  any  such  sort  of  pur- 
gatory  for  souls  of  an  indifferent  character  as  this  objec- 
tion pretends.     Those  who  look  into  their  writings  will 


438         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

find  abimdaiit  evidence,  that  most  of  tliem  talk  of  eternal 
pimishment  by  fire,  in  the  very  words  and  language  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  this  doc- 
trine of  temporal  punishments  in  hell.  1  shall  cite  bnt 
two  writers,  one  of  which  is  the  very  earliest  of  the 
fathers,  an  acquaintance  of  St.  Paul ;  and  that  is  Clemens 
the  Roman,  v.ho  in  the  eighth  section  of  his  second 
epistle  says  thus  : 

Let  us  tlierefore  repent  whilst  we  arc  yet  upon  the 
earth ;  for  we  are  as  clay  in  the  hand  of  the  artificer. 
For  as  the  potter,  if  he  makes  a  vessel,  and  it  be  distort- 
ed in  his  hands,  or  broken,  again  forms  it  anew ;  but  if 
lie  hath  gone  so  far  as  to  throw  it  into  the  furnace  of  fire, 
he  can  no  more  bring  any  remedy  to  it.  So  we,  whilst 
we  are  in  this  world,  should  repent  Avitli  our  whole  heart 
for  whatsoever  evil  we  have  done  in  the  flesh,  while  we 
liave  yet  the  time  of  repentance,  that  we  may  be  saved 
by  the  Lord.  For  after  we  shall  have  departed  out  of 
this  world,  we  shall  no  longer  be  able  either  to  confess 
our  sins,  or  repent  in  the  other."  The  English  reader 
may  find  this  in  Archbishop  Wake's  translation  of  the 
most  primitive  fathers. 

Justin  Martyr,  who  is  also  one  of  the  most  early 
writers,  in  the  eighth  section  of  his  first  ajjology,  tells  us, 
that  Plato  teaches  that  Radamanthus  and  Minos  punish- 
ed the  unrighteous  who  came  before  them ;  and  that  ice 
christians  say  the  same  thing  will  be  done,  but  it  is  by 
Christ;  when  their  bodies  are  joined  tcith  their  souls, 
and  they  shall  be  punished  icith  eternal  punishment,  and 
not  for  the  period  of  a  thousand  years  only,  as  Plato  said. 
This  same  w  riter  also,  in  very  many  places  of  his  works, 
talks  o{  eternal  punishments,  and  oi  punishment  for  an 
endless  age,  and  eternal  fire,  with  eternal  sensation  or 
pain. 

Irensus  also  after  him,  as  well  as  Ignatius  and  Poly- 
carp  before  him.  speak  of  this  fire  which  is  not  to  be 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  489 

quenched.,  and  of  death  and  punishmeni,  not  temporal, 
but  eternal.  So  tliat  it  is  really  an  imposition  upon  un- 
learned readers  to  pretend,  that  the  doctrine  wliicli  denies 
the  eternity  of  the  punishments  of  hell,  was  the  common 
sense  of  the  primitive  fathers,  though  it  is  granted  that 
Origen  and  some  others  might  be  of  this  opinion. 

To  conclude — Since  the  word  of  God  has  expressly 
assured  us,  that  these  punishments  of  sinful  men  shall  be 
eternal,  it  is  not  for  us  to  hearken  to  any  otlier  doctrines, 
and  neglect  what  God  has  said,  nor  is  it  fit  for  us  to  dis- 
pute the  wisdom  and  justice  of  divine  conduct,  nor  to 
impeach  his  goodness.  Let  God  be  true,  though  every 
man  be  a  liar  ;  let  God  be  wise,  though  every  man  be  a 
fool ;  let  God  be  just  and  righteous  in  all  his  ways, 
though  man  vainly  murmur  against  him,  and  raise  these 
noisy  and  feeble  remonstrances  against  his  judgments. 
The  counsel  of  the  Lord  shall  stand,  and  he  will  do  all 
his  pleasure,  in  the  eternal  manifestations  of  his  justice 
as  well  as  his  grace.  If  there  be  any  supposed  incon- 
sistency or  cloud  of  difficulty  remaining  on  his  conduct, 
he  will  clear  it  up  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  rational 
mind  one  day,  and  will  bring  the  conscience  of  every 
condemned  sinner  to  acknowledge  the  equity  of  his  pro- 
ceedings. The  whole  creation  shall  tlien  justify  the  final 
sentence  of  judgment  on  all  the  sons  of  men. 

I  cannot  finish  this  awful  argument  better  tlian  the 
apostle  finishes  the  same  sort  of  subject  in  the  ninth  and 
eleventh  chapters  to  the  Romans.  '^'  O  man,  who  art 
thou  that  repliest  against  God?  What  if  God,  willing  to 
shew  his  wrath,  and  to  make  his  power  known,  hath 
endured,  with  much  long-suffering,  the  vessels  of  wrath, 
who  have  fitted  themselves  for  destruction  ?  And  that  he 
might  make  known  the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the  vessels 
of  mercy,  which  he  hath  afore  prepared  unto  glory  ?  O 
the  depths  of  the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge, ihe.  justice  and  the  goodness  of  6ro^,  how  unsearch  - 


440        THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

able  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out? 
For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things, 
to  whom  be  glory  fcr  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

SECTION  III. 

Reflections  on  the  eternity  of  Punishment  in  Hell. 

As  we  have  before  drawn  various  inferences  from  the 
nature  of  those  punishments  tliat  are  prepared  for  sin- 
ners in  the  world  to  come,  so  there  are  other  inferences 
and  terrible  reflections  which  may  be  derived  from  the 
duration  or  jjerpetuity  of  the  torments  of  hell. 

Reflection  I.  What  imspeakable  anguish  and  torture 
doth  this  one  circumstance  add  to  every  pain  and  sorrow 
of  damned  creatures^  that  it  is  everlasting  and  has  no 
end  P  What  unknown  twinges  in  the  conscience  doth 
this  thought  give  to  the  gnawing  of  the  cruel  worm,  viz. 
that  it  is  a  laorm  that  never  dies  ?  What  inconceivable 
force  and  sting  of  torment  does  this  add  to  \\\^  flre  of 
God's  indignation  in  hell,  that  it  is  a  flre  which  shall 
never  be  quenched  f  When  one  year  of  torment  and  sor- 
row is  ended,  or  one  thousand  years  are  come  to  their 
period,  the  case  of  sinners  is  still  much  the  same ;  the 
vengeance  remains  still  as  heavy  as  ever,  and  seems  as 
far  off  from  its  end.  This  dreadful  price,  which  the  jus- 
tice of  God  demands  for  the  reparation  of  our  offences 
against  his  law  and  his  authority,  is  a  price  which  crea- 
tures can  never  pay,  for  it  is  infinite ;  and  therefore 
when  a  finite  creature  begins  to  make  payment  thereof  with 
his  own  sufferings,  these  sufferings  must  be  everlasting. 

It  is  evident  that  one  wilful  sin  is  sufficient  to  sink 
creatures  under  the  indignation  of  a  God  for  six  thousand 
years.  I  call  the  angels  who  sinned  for  witnesses  to 
this  truth.  They  were  formed  in  holiness  and  in  glory 
before  the  creation  of  this  lower  world ;  and  probably 
they  sinned  and  fell  before  this  creation  too ;  and  they 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELU  441 

are  yet  imprisoned  and  confined  under  jjerpetual  chains 
of  darkness,  as  the  word  of  Grod  tells  us,  and  reserved 
to  everlasting  punishment  at  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day.  And  if  thou,  O  sinner,  among  the  sons  of  men,  if 
thou  diest  in  an  unregenerate,  unholy,  and  unpardoned 
state,  the  sins  of  thy  whole  life  are  charged  upon  thee, 
and  tliou  art  daily  treasuring  up  ivrath  against  the  day 
of  wrath,  and  thou  shall  not  escape  from  this  prison  till 
thou  hast  paid  the  utmost  farthing  ;  Rom.  ii.  5  ;  Matt. 
V.  26. 

If  one  sin  deserves  all  this  misery  which  has  been 
described,  what  a  dreadful  reckoning  will  the  sins  of 
thy  whole  life  come  to,  when  every  command  of  God 
which  thou  hast  broken  shall  appear  and  demand  repar- 
ation for  its  injured  honor  ?  Remember^  O  sinner,  obsti- 
nate and  rebellious,  remember  thou  hast  to  do  with  a 
great  and  dreadful  God,  who  has  all  thine  iniquities  ever 
before  his  eyes  ;  Isaiah  Ivi.  5.  Behold  they  are  written 
hfore  me,  and  I  will  recompence,  saith  the  Lord,  their 
iniquity  into  their  bosom.  He  is  a  God  that  will  never 
forget  any  one  of  thy  crimes.  Amos  viii.  7  j  The  Lord 
hath  sworn  by  the  excellency  of  Jacob,  surely  I  ivill 
never  forget  any  of  their  works.  Though  thou  hast  lost 
and  forgot  them,  he  will  bring  them  again  into  thy  con- 
science with  a  terrible  remembrance;  and  when  this 
God  comes  forth  in  a  way  of  vengeance,  every  trans- 
gression and  disobedience  shaUreceive  a  just  recompence 
of  reward.  Vengeance  belongeth  unto  me,  saith  the 
Lord ;  Heb.  ii.  2.  and  x.  30.  He  that  spared  not  his 
oini  Son,  when  he  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all, 
will  never  spare  thee  who  art  the  personal  and  criminal 
transgressor.  Eternal  recompences  are  due  to  the  de- 
mands of  justice,  and  he  will  punish  till  full  payment  is 
made  equal  to  tlie   evil  of  sin,  that  is  to  all  everlasting. 

Reflection  II.    What  infinite  and  eternal  concerns  of 
men  hang  upon  the  short  and  slender  thread  of  human 

.^6 


442- 


TKE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 


life  P  An  eternal  heaven  or  an  eternal  hell  depend*  on 
our  good  or  ill  behaviour  in  this  short  and  mortal  state. 
While  life  remains  the  sinner's  hope  remains  ;  lie  abides 
on  the  stage  of  action^  and  this  is  the  state  of  trial  for 
eternity.  But  as  soon  as  tlie  thread  of  life  is  broken, 
immediately  ensues  endless  joy  or  endless  sorrow. 

What  a  poor  fleeting  vapor,  what  a  thin  and  frail 
bubble  is  this  feeble  and  uncertain  thing  which  we  call 
life  ?  And  yet  what  matters  of  immense  importance  de- 
pend upon  it  ?  This  present  life  is  a  prize  put  into  our 
hands,  for  it  is  the  only  time  given  us  to  obtain  deliver- 
ance and  escape  from  eternal  death.  Life  in  this  view, 
as  mere  a  bubble  and  vapor  as  it  is,  carries  in  it  some- 
thing of  infinite  and  everlasting  moment.  But  alas,  how 
wretchedly  does  foolish  and  sinful  mankind  trifle  and 
squander  it  away  amidst  a  thousand  vanities  and  imper- 
tinences, or  saunter  it  out  in  sloth  and  laziness,  with  an 
utter  disregard  of  the  important  eternity  that  depends 
upon  it  ?  What  multitudes  are  there  that  waste  the 
golden  hours  of  grace  and  the  seasons  of  hope,  iu  pro- 
curing to  themselves  by  their  own  wilful  iniquities,  a 
lengtli  of  damnation  and  everlasting  despair  ? 

Whilst  we  dwell  here  in  the  midst  of  the  means  of 
mercy  and  salvation,  tlicre  is  hope  that  our  sinful  souls 
may  be  healed  of  that  disease  which  is  breeding  the 
ever-knawing  worm  within  us.  We  may  prevent  the 
fuel  of  divine  wratli  from  kindling  into  a  flame  wliich 
cannot  be  quenched.  But  when  once  the  clock  of  life 
has  gone  through  its  appointed  spaces,  and  the  last  hojr 
strikes,  whether  it  be  three  or  five,  whether  at  twelve,  at 
noon,  or  at  midnight,  all  liope  is  for  ever  gone  ;  we  are 
plunged  into  the  regions  of  death,  despondency  and 
darkness,  and  nothing  remains  but  the  actual  torture  of 
the  worm  of  conscience  to  seize  on  us,  and  the  fire  of 
divine  anger  actually  breaks  out,  which  shall  burn  to  the 
lowest  hell. 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  443 

O  could  we  but  behold  ourselves  iu  tlie  glass  of  wis- 
dom, while  we  are  yet  standing  upon  the  slippery  edge 
of  this  burning  precipice,  and  playing  with  painted  bub- 
bles there,  or  in  warm  pursuit  of  a  flying  shining  feather 
along  the  brink  of  this  burning  torrent,  what  fools  and 
madmen  sliould  we  appear  to  be  even  in  our  own  eyes  ! 
And  yet  we  go  on  to  practice  this  folly,  this  madness, 
day  after  day,  in  spite  of  all  the  warnings  of  God  and 
man,  till  at  last  our  foot  slips  in  some  dreadful  moment, 
and  we  vanish  out  of  the  sight  of  our  companions,  and 
are  lost  for  ever. 

Keflection  III.  If  the  miseries  of  hell  are  eternal, 
how  unreasonable  a  thing  is  it  ever  to  suffer  the  loss  of 
any  jiossessions  or  joys  which  are  temporal  and  perisli- 
ing.  to  come  into  competition  ivith  them  P  Surely  there 
is  nothing  that  belongs  to  time  that  should  tempt  us  to 
run  the  risque  of  tlie  sorrows  of  eternity,  nor  allure  us 
to  commit  one  sin  against  God,  which  is  the  fatal  spring 
of  such  sorrows  !  Stand  still,  O  sinner,  and  hearken  to 
tlie  voice  of  wisdom.  Do  the  pleasures  of  sense,  or  the 
gaities  of  sight,  or  the  wealth  or  grandeurs  of  this  life 
allure  thee  to  make  thy  way  boldly  through  any  ineans 
toward  the  possession  of  them,  think  with  thyself,  is  it 
by  offending  tlijs  great  and  dreadful  God  ?  And  wilt 
thou  dare  to  take  one  step  towards  these  dangerous  and 
deceitful  vanities,  and  risque  thine  immortal  welfare  in 
the  pursuit  ?  What  a  foolish  bargain  wilt  thou  make  to 
gain  the  whole  world  of  short  lived  perishing  trifles,  and 
to  lose  thy  soul,  in  endless  perdition  ?  Mark  viii.  36. 
Dare  any  of  us  venture  an  eternal  state  of  torment  to 
gain  the  flattering  and  delusive  joy  of  a  short  hour,  or  a 
winter's  day  ? 

What  are  all  the  gratifications  of  flesh  and  sense  ? 
What  are  all  the  swelling  titles  of  honor  amongst  men  ? 
What  are  all  the  treasures  of  this  perishing  world  ? 
How  short  is  their  duration,  and  how  short  is  the  pos- 


444         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

session  of  them?  All  earthly  felicities  perish  in  tlip  using, 
and  are  no  sooner  enjoyed  but  are  quickly  lost  again,  or 
expire  in  the  enjoyment.  But  if  the  ruin  of  a  soul,  and 
a  lost  heaven,  be  the  price  of  them,  how  mad  is  the  pur- 
chase, and  how  wretched  is  the  purchaser  ? 

Retiection  IV.  How  patiently  sJiould  ice  bear  all  the 
labors  and  fatigues,  the  pains  and  miseries  of  this  mor- 
tal life,  when  ive  have  any  hope  of  our  deliverance  from 
the  pains  and  sorrows  of  immortality  P  As  for  our 
maladies  and  sorrows  here  on  earth,  blessed  be  God 
they  are  not  eternal.  There  are  some  intervals  to  re- 
lieve, and  there  is  some  period  to  finish  them.  When 
we  ask  a  friend  who  is  sick  and  in  pain,  ^^  how  fare  you  P 
I  am  in  pain  now,  says  he,  but  I  hope  I  shall  be  easy 
anon.  I  am  sick  to-day,  but  I  trust  1  shall  be  in  health 
tomorrow."  This  is  a  sweet  mitigation  of  the  present 
uneasiness,  and  gives  relief  to  the  patient.  But  how 
dreadful  and  piercing  would  these  accents  be,  if  we 
should  hear  our  friend  make  this  answer  to  us,  "  I  am 
all  over  in  extreme  pain  and  anguish,  and  I  shall  never, 
never  be  eased  of  it.  I  lie  under  exquisite  torment  of 
the  flesh,  and  horror  in  my  soul,  and  I  shall  for  ever 
feel  this  horror  and  this  torment."  Such  is  the  case  of 
the  damned  sinners  in  hell,  and  therefore  there  agonies 
are  intolerable. 

But  if  you  have  any  comfortable  prospect  of  the  par- 
don of  sin,  and  a  well  grounded  hope  of  eternal  salva- 
tion through  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  by  the  rules  and 
promises  of  the  gospel,  all  the  temporal  toils  and 
plagues  that  can  possibly  stand  between  us  and  heaven 
should  be  despised  and  disregarded  by  us,  and  we 
should  learn  to  triumph  over  them  with  the  victorious 
songs  of  thankfulness  and  praise.  Blessed  be  the  name 
of  our  God,  though  he  has  smitten  us  sorely,  yet  he  has 
not  given  us  over  to  everlasting  death. 

Let  our  thoughts  ascend  to  the  heavenly  regions,  and 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  445 

let  US  ask  those  who  are  arrived  thither  out  of  the  land 
of  temptation  and  conflict,  out  of  these  tabernacles  of  sin 
and  sorrow  ',  let  us  ask  them  what  gave  them  so  divine 
a  courage,  and  so  firm  a  patience,  in  the  midst  of  all 
their  trials  ?  With  one  voice  they  will  all  make  answer, 
it  was  the  view  of  our  deliverance  from  an  eternal  hell, 
and  the  hopes  of  obtaining  salvation  by  Christ  Jesus 
with  eternal  glory ;  it  is  this  that  supported  us  under 
every  burden,  and  bore  us  on  with  a  spirit  of  faith  and 
victory  through  every  hardship  on  earth.  It  was  for 
tliis  we  labored,  and  suifered,  and  counted  not  life,  nor 
any  of  the  blessings  of  it,  dear  to  us,  nor  any  of  the  sor- 
rows of  it  intoUerable,  that  we  might  escape  the  ever- 
lasting sorrows  of  a  future  state,  and  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  life  eternal. 

And,  O  may  every  one  of  us  he  the  followers  of  those 
who  through  this  faith  and  patience  have  obtained  the 
•promised  felicity  !  May  we  also  make  our  way,  by  the 
same  motives,  through  the  floods  and  the  fires  of  afflic- 
tion and  distress,  to  reach  this  everlasting  heaven,  and 
to  escape  everlasting  burnings  ! 

In  order  to  confirm  our  patience,  and  to  animate  our 
zeal,  let  us  survey  the  blessed  example  of  St.  Paul,  who 
was  reproached,  who  was  buffetted,  who  was  persecu- 
ted with  stones,  and  whips,  and  scourges,  and  bore  a 
thousand  indignities,  who  was  assaulted  with  endless 
strokes  of  injury  and  violence,  and  yet  rejoiced  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  sufferings  in  the  view  of  his  eternal  hope. 
The  spirit  of  faith  in  the  midst  of  all  his  sufferings 
taught  him  to  sing  this  divine  song,  our  light  afflictions, 
which  are  hut  for  a  moment,  are  working  for  us  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory,  The  suf- 
ferings of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  he  compar- 
ed with  the  glory  that  shall  he  revealed  ;  2  Cor.  iv.  17- 
Rom.  viii.  18.  Nor  are  they  worthy  to  be  compared 
with  that  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  vengeance. 


446  THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

from  which  we  are  delivered  by  faith  and  patient  obedi- 
ence to  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Reflection  Y.  If  the  iniseries  of  hell  are  eternal,  we 
can  never  have  our  deliverance  from  them  made  too  se- 
cure. If  the  danger  of  any  mischief,  to  which  ^ve  might 
be  exposed,  were  but  slight,  and  the  duration  of  it  short, 
there  might  be  possibly  some  excuse  for  our  delay  to 
escape  it.  But  wlien  it  is  total  and  irrevocable  ruin  to 
which  we  are  liable  every  moment,  while  we  continue  in 
a  state  of  sin,  we  should  fly  with  all  the  wings  of  our 
souls,  and  never  be  at  ease  or  quiet  till  we  are  got  with- 
out the  reach  of  danger,  and  settled  in  a  place  of  safety, 
or  on  the  rock  of  our  salvation. 

O  could  we  but  perceive  a  thousandth  part  of  the  hor- 
ror that  is  contained  in  an  eternal  hell,  an  eternal  ban- 
ishment from  the  face  and  favor  of  God,  and  tlie  eternal 
impressions  of  his  anger,  we  should  never  give  our- 
selves rest  one  moment,  till  we  had  returned  to  God  by 
a  sincere  repentance,  and  were  reconciled  to  him  that 
made  us  ;  till  we  fled  for  refuge  to  the  blood  of  Jesus, 
and  to  his  sanctifying  grace,  whicli  is  the  only  hope  that 
is  set  before  us.  We  should  never  give  ourselves  leave 
to  lie  down,  or  awake  in  quiet,  while  we  were  destitute 
of  a  saving  interest  in  the  salvation  of  Christ,  and  had 
attained  to  some  clear  evidence  of  it,  and  a  well-ground- 
ed hope. 

Have  we  not  sometimes  felt  the  icorm  of  conscience 
begin  to  gnaw  within  us,  and  to  prey  upon  our  spirits 
after  the  commission  of  some  sin  ?  And  shall  we  not 
apply  ourselves  with  all  holy  speed  to  the  divine  Phy- 
sician, wlio  can  kill  this  gnawing  worm  witliin  us,  and 
can  heal  tliose  sinful  maladies  that  are  breeding  it? 
Have  we  not  sometimes  felt  the  tlu'eatenings  of  tlie 
Avrath  of  God  in  his  larw,  like  afire  in  our  bones?  With 
what  infinite  desire  then,  and  what  restless  vehemence 
should  we  fly  to  the  blood  of  Jesus,  our  great  sacrifice, 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  447 

which  alone  can  quench  the  fiery  indignation  of  God, 
and  prevent  it  from  growing  up  to  an  everlasting  flame. 

Had  we  upon  our  spirits  such  a  sense  of  the  terrors 
of  the  Lord  of  liell,  as  his  threatenings  represent,  we 
should  never  he  satisfied  with  such  cold,  doubtful  hopes 
of  our  deliverance  from  them,  as  thousands  of  nominal 
christians  are  contented  with  ;  but  we  should  make 
every  needful  and  critical  enquiry^,  whether  our  repent- 
ance were  sincere,  whether  our  faith  in  Christ  were  un- 
feigned, whether  our  hopes  had  a  solid  foundation  in 
the  divine  promise.  We  should  search  every  power  of 
our  souls,  and  examine  our  hearts  through  every  corner, 
whether  sin  be  mortified  there,  whether  the  christian 
virtues  are  formed  within  us,  and  the  divine  image  is 
begun  to  be  stamped  upon  our  minds.  We  should  be 
restless  and  impatient  in  our  inward  searches,  whether 
we  are  made  new  creatures,  whether  we  are  born  of 
God,  and  become  his  children,  and  are  secured  by  his 
gospel,  from  this  everlasting  vengeance.  The  degree 
and  the  infinite  duration  of  this  misery  should  appoint 
the  proportion  of  our  zeal  and  solicitude  to  escape  it. 

A  man  who  sees  or  feels  his  own  house  on  fire  under 
him,  does  not  continue  upon  his  bed  of  sloth,  or  sit 
amusing  himself  among  the  ornaments  of  his  chamber, 
till  the  flames  have  broke  through  and  seized  him  ;  but 
with  huge  outcries  he  seeks  for  help,  and  flies  in  haste 
for  his  life,  wheresoever  he  finds  a  way.  Such  should 
be  the  language,  and  such  the  activity  of  sinful  creatures, 
to  escape  the  wrath  to  come ;  and  such  will  be  the  out- 
cries of  sinners  when  they  are  thoroughly  awakened ; 
this  language  of  every  place,  and  every  hour,  will  then 
be  awakened  ;  what  shall  I  do  to  he  saved?  Whither 
shall  I  fly  for  refuge  P  O  blessed  Jesus,  receive  me 
into  thy  protection,  and  be  thou  my  deliverer. 

Give  me  leave  to  repeat  this  sort  of  expostulation  with 
lingering  and  delaying   sinners,  or  with   drowsy   and 


448         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

formal  christians.  If  you  would  set  yourselves  often 
in  the  blaze  of  these  everlasting  burnings,  you  would 
never  satisfy  yourselves  with  such  cold,  faint  wishes, 
such  lazy  endeavors,  such  languid  efforts  of  faith  and 
repentance,  to  escape  this  fiery  indignation  that  shall 
never  be  quenched.  Nor  would  you  content  yourselves 
with  dark  and  doubtful  evidences  of  your  interest  in  the 
love  of  God,  and  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  ;  but  you 
would  be  day  and  niglit  busy  with  your  own  hearts,  in 
the  most  intimate  and  careful  search  after  converting 
grace  and  living  Christianity.  You  would  never  be  at 
rest  till  you  felt  the  new  nature  working  with  power 
and  briglit  evidence  within  you,  that  you  might  be  able 
to  say,  '^  we  know  there  is  no  condemnation  belongs  to 
us,  but  that  we  are  passed  from  death  unto  life." 

Let  us  proceed  upon  this  subject,  turning  the  discourse 
from  ourselves  to  our  friends,  and  say  with  what  fervor 
of  love,  with  what  holy  zeal  and  compassion,  should  we 
labor  to  save  our  friends  and  all  that  are  dear  to  us, 
from  this  eternal  destruction  ?  What  words  of  fiery 
terror  shall  we  clioose  to  awaken  those  who  slumber  on 
the  edge  of  endless  burnings  ?  What  language  of  kind 
and  tender  passion  shall  we  clioose  to  reach  their 
hearts  ?  What  phrases  of  melting  pity  to  hasten  tlieir 
escape  from  this  precipice  of  burning  ruin,  or  to  pluck 
them  as  brands  out  of  the  fire,  before  it  becomes  un- 
quenchable? Knowing  these  terrors  of  the  Lord,  with 
what  vehemence  of  zeal  should  we  try  to  persuade  men, 
our  fellow  mortals,  that  they  would  not  venture  into  the 
midst  of  these  miseries,  and  beseech  them  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  to  be  reconciled  to  God  ?  This  was  the  prac- 
tice, and  these  the  motives  of  the  great  apostle,  as  he 
describes  them  at  tlie  latter  end  of  the  fifth  chapter  in 
liis  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

O  with  what  force  of  ardent  and  active  compassion 
should  ministers  preach  both  the  curses  of  the  law,  and 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  449 

the  grace  of  the  blessed  gospel,  to  perishing  sinners, 
and  make  haste  to  rescue  their  souls  from  this  everlast- 
ing vengeance  ?  With  what  warm  and  solicitous  zeal 
should  they  lay  hold  of  thoee  poor  thoughtless  wretches 
who  are  madly  indulging  their  lusts  and  follies,  and 
thereby  preparing  themselves  to  become  fit  fuel  for  this 
eternal  fire  ?  They  are  forming  themselves  by  their  in"- 
iquitics  to  become  vessels  of  this  everlasting  indignation. 
Let  us  seize  tliem  by  some  kind  and  constraining  words 
of  love,  some  outcries  of  compassion  and  fear,  lest  they 
rush  into  those  flames  which  will  never  be  quenched. 
Perhaps  when  they  are  summoned  away  from  us  by  the 
stroke  of  death,  they  may  leave  us  in  the  most  uncom- 
fortable sorrows  for  our  neglect,  while  they  are  suflTering 
the  long  endless  punishment  due  to  their  own  iniquities. 
Keflection  VI.  How  unreasonable  a  thing  is  it  for  us 
ministers,  who  are  charged  and  entrusted  with  the  whole 
counsel  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  men,  to  avoid  the 
mention  of  these  his  eternal  terrors  in  our  sermons,  and 
in  our  addresses  to  mortal  creatures  !  creatures  who  are 
daily  preparing  themselves  for  them  by  their  sins,  and 
are  ready  to  plunge  into  the  midst  of  them  !  Has  not 
our  blessed  Saviour  made  frequent  mention  of  them  in 
his  gospel,  and  set  them  in  their  dreadful  array  before 
his  hearers?  Has  he  not  expressed  them  in  their 
strongest  terms,  and  spread  them  in  their  most  frightful 
colors,  and  set  them  in  their  full  and  everlasting  extent, 
before  the  sinners  which  attended  his  ministry?  And 
did  he  ever  give  any  hint  that  they  sliould  be  understood 
in  a  milder  sense  ?  Have  not  the  apostles  followed 
their  Lord  in  the  same  dreadful  display  of  the  sharp 
and  ever-during  punishments  of  hell?  And  have  they 
taught  us  to  qualify  these  terrors  by  gentler  interpreta- 
tions of  them  ?  And  have  not  such  kind  of  discourses 
been  abundantly  blessed  in  the  providence  of  Grod,  both 
57 


450         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

in  ancient  and  later  ages,  to  awaken  and  save  inulti 
tudes  of  the  sonls  of  men  ? 

How  many  holy  and  happy  spirits  are  now  rejoicing 
before  God,  and  before  the  throne  of  his  love,  and  en- 
compassed with  all  the  joys  of  immortality,  who  owe 
the  beginnings  of  their  repentance,  and  the  first  turn  of 
their  souls  towards  faith  and  salvation  to  such  words  of 
terror  as  these  ?  How  many  of  the  saints  on  high,  have 
been  first  awakened  from  their  deadly  sleep  in  sin,  by 
the  ministrations  of  this  eternal  vengeance  of  God  ? 
How  many  have  been  frighted  out  of  their  indolence  at 
first,  by  the  discovery  of  these  everlasting  horrors  of 
conscience,  and  agonies  of  soul  ?  The  dread  of  the 
worm  tliat  never  dies,  has  aifrighted  their  consciences 
from  a  course  of  sin ;  the  fiery  indignation  which  shall 
never  be  quenched,  has  flashed  in  their  bosoms  from 
the  lips  of  tlie  preacher,  and  lias  set  them  all  over  trem- 
bling, and  filled  all  their  inward  powers  with  dismay 
and  anguish ;  their  tongue  has  broke  into  loud  and 
earnest  inquiries,  Who  shall  deliver  me  from  this 
eternal  death  ?  How  shall  I  escape  this  everlasting 
wrath  to  come  ?  And  the  Spirit  of  God  by  degrees  has 
led  them  to  Jesus,  and  his  atoning  blood,  his  gospel,  his 
righteousness,  and  his  converting  grace,  as  the  only  way 
of  deliverance  and  salvation. 

How  unreasonable  a  thing  is  it  for  ministers  in  their 
preaching,  to  soften  these  terrors  of  the  Lord,  to  cut 
short  tiiese  endless  horrors  and  anguish,  and  to  mitigate 
the  miseries  of  hell  and  damnation,  since  even  all  that 
length  and  eternity  in  which  Christ  and  his  apostles 
preached  these  terrors,  have  not  been  suificient  to  reclaini 
mankind  from  their  iniquities  ;  but  multitudes  of  them, 
in  the  face  of  all  these  threatenings,  still  persist  in  the 
broad  way  to  destruction  and  death  ? 

Can  we  possibly  do  any  honor  to  the  ministry  of  our 


PUNISHMENTS  OP  HELL.  4)51 

blessed  Lord,  or  is  there  any  real  service  done  to  the 
souls  of  men  by  our  fond  and  vain  reasonings  to  shorten 
these  sorrows,  and  put  a  period  to  these  threatened  tor- 
ments ?  Will  the  blessed  Jesus,  when  he  sits  on  the 
throne  of  judgment,  give  us  thanks  for  running  counter 
to  the  language  of  his  own  ministry,  and  for  daring  to 
contradict  his  denounced  vengeance  ? 

By  the  various  expressions  and  representations  of  this 
matter  in  scripture,  in  such  solemn  and  dreadful  lan- 
guage, must  1  not  suppose  that  th«  blessed  God,  and 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  designed  and  intended  that  man- 
kind should  believe  the  pains  and  punishments  of  hell 
will  be  eternal  ?  Can  I  then  be  censured  for  endeavor- 
ing to  establish  and  promote  the  awful  doctrine  which 
botli  God  the  Father  and  his  Son  intended  should  be 
believed,  and  by  which  they  designed  to  guard  both  the 
law  and  the  gospel  ?  A  doctrine  which  was  left  on  re- 
cord to  deter  sinners  from  the  paths  of  sin  and  destruc- 
tion, and  to  awaken  the  souls  and  consciences  of  men 
to  repentance  ?  On  the  other  hand,  can  those  teachers 
be  approved  of  God  or  good  men,  whose  evident  design 
is  to  lead  the  world  to  disbelieve  this  solemn  and  terri- 
ble warning  of  the  great  God  ? 

Let  us  proceed  in  these  enquiries,  and  address  our- 
selves to  those  wicked  and  miserable  creatures,  wlio  are 
actually  suifering  this  divine  vengeance.  Let  us  ask 
them,  how  they  approve  of  this  sort  of  preaching  which 
withholds  from  the  eyes,  and  ears,  and  consciences  of 
men,  the  most  dreadful  circumstance  of  these  horrors  ? 
Will  any  of  the  damned  wretches  of  hell  thank  us  for 
hiding  so  dreadful  a  part  of  these  miseries  from  them  ? 
Will  they  bless  us  for  lessening  the  threatened  curses 
and  indignation  of  a  God  ?  "  No,  says  the  condemned 
wretch,  those  preachers  are  worthy  of  my  curses  and  not 
my  thanks,  w^ho  abated  tliese  terrors  of  the  Lord,  and 


452         THE  ETERNAL  DURATION  OF  THE 

shortened  his  threatened  punishment ;  for  they  persuad- 
ed me  to  hope  tliere  would  be  an  end  of  my  misery,  and 
thereby  tempted  me  to  venture  upon  those  sins  which 
I  should  have  renounced  with  abomination,  had  I 
believed  the  words  of  God,  and  these  everlasting  tor- 
ments. O  cursed  and  cruel  preachers,  who,  by  soften- 
ing and  curtailing  the  sentence  of  eternal  misery,  gave 
a  sort  of  licence  to  my  wickedness,  and  broke  one  of  the 
strongest  bars  that  restrained  me  from  sinning  !  It  is  by 
this  sort  of  flattery  they  paved  my  way  down  to  hellj 
and  have  brought  me  into  this  prison,  this  eternal  an- 
guish, whence  there  is  no  release.''* 

Say,  ye  who  preach  that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  one 
day  be  opened  to  let  out  the  prisoners,  ye  who  tell  sin- 
ners there  is  a  time  of  release  for  them,  say,  do  ye  ex- 
pect to  fright  them  out  of  their  sins  by  lessening  their 
fear  of  God  and  his  wrath  to  come  ?  Do  ye  hope  to 
bring  obstinate  and  impenitent  rebels  to  a  more  speedy 
remorse  for  sin,  and  to  begin  a  life  of  holiness,  by  per- 
sua?liug  them  that  these  terrors  of  God  shall  have  an 
end  ?  Can  ye  imagine  that  such  vain  tidings,  such  sooth- 
ing flattery,  will  ever  melt  them  to  re))entance  and  love, 
when  all  the  grace  of  the  gospel,  mingled  with  the  blood 
and  tears  of  the  Son  of  God  will  not  do  it  ?  Would  not 
this  manner  of  preaching  rather  encourage  them  to  run 
on  still  in  their  rebellions,  and  make  them  more  regard- 
less of  their  highest  interest  ?  Would  it  not  tempt  them 
to  give  a  loose  to  their  vilest  inclinations,  and  all  the 
flagrant  and  abominable  enormities  of  their  own  heart, 
when  they  shall  be  told  that  these  punishments,  which 

*  Some  of  the  ancients  have  called  those  preachers,  who  shorten  the  pains 
of  hell,  the  merciful  or  compassionate  doctors.  And  Dr.  T.  Burnet  calls 
those  merciless  or  uncompassionate,  who  preach  the  eternity  of  it.  But  I 
think  it  will  appear  one  day,  that  those  are  truly  the  compassionate  writers 
and  teachers,  who  most  effectually  affright  and  prevent  men  from  sin  and 
damnation  ;  and  those  wlio  have  given  wicked  men  hope  of  their  release 
from  hell,  will  be  in  danger  of  being  charged  with  smoothing  their  way  to 
this  miser}',  by  softening  the  terrors  of  it. 


PUNISHMENTS  OF  HELL.  453 

the  Bible  calls  everlastings  shall  one  day  come  to  an 
end? 

Besides,  I  believe  it  has  been  observed  in  every  age, 
that  the  fears  of  this  worm  tvhich  never  dies,  and  this 
eternal  fire  which  shall  never  he  quenched,  have  been 
made  abundantly  useful  in  the  providence  of  God  to  lay 
a  powerful  restraint  on  the  unruly  vices  of  some  sinners, 
who  have  never  been  awakened  and  drawn  into  saving 
penitence,  or  reclaimed  to  a  life  of  sincere  holiness. 
And,  if  tlie  restraint  of  this  terror  were  taken  away, 
tow  much  more  would  all  iniquity  abound  among  those 
who  have  no  inward  principle  of  goodness  ? 

Let  us  proceed  then  to  preach  the  same  terror  which 
the  blessed  Jesus  thought  not  unworthy  of  liis  ministry  ; 
and  may  the  providence  and  the  grace  of  God  give  suc- 
cess to  our  labors,  both  for  the  restraining  the  extrava- 
gant vices  of  the  wicked,  for  the  saving  conversion  of 
many  sinners,  and  for  a  guard  and  restraint  to  the  young 
and  wavering  christians.* 

*  The  late  Dr.  Thomas  Burnet,  in  his  Latin  treatise  of  the  state  of  the 
dead,  and  those  who  rise  again,  opposes  the  doctrine  of  the  eternity  of  future 
punishments,  and  shews  who  of  the  ancient  fathers  seem  to  be  of  th"e  same 
opinion  with  him.  But  he  tells  us,  tliat  these  ancient  fathers,  when  they 
treated  of  this  subject,  often  gave  the  same  advice  to  others,  which  he 
himself  gives  in  these  words.  "  Whatsoever  you  determine  within  yourself, 
and  in  your  own  breast,  concerning  these  punishments,  whether  they  are 
eternal  or  no,  yet  you  ought  to  use  the  common  doctrine  and  the  common 
language  when  you  preach  or  speak  to  the  people,  especially  those  of 
the  lower  rank,  who  are  ready  to  run  headlong  into  vice,  and  are  to  be  re- 
strained from  evil  only  by  the  fear  of  punishment.  And  even  among  good 
christians  there  are  infants  to  be  nourished  with  milk  ;  nor  is  their  diet  to  be 
rashly  changed,  lest  through  intemperance  they  fall  into  diseases." 

And  he  adds  in  the  margin,  "  whosoever  shall  translate  these  sentiments 
Into  our  mother  tongue,  I  shall  think  it  was  done  with  an  evil  design  and  to 
bad  purpose."  So  that  if  this  were  a  true  doctrine,  vet  the  learned  author 
agrees,  that  neither  the  holy  writers  of  the  Bible,  nor  the  fathers,  think  it 
proper  that  the  bulk  of  the  people  should  know  it.  But  if  it  should  not  be 
translated,  I  would  ask,  why  did  the  author  write  it  and  leave  it  to  be  pub- 
lished ?  Did  lie  suppose  all  men  and  boys,  who  understood  Latin,  to  be  sufB- 
ciently  guarded  against  the  abuse  of  such  an  opinion  ' 


454?  THE  ETERNAL  UUUAilON  OF  'I'HE 

Notwithstanding  all  the  express  language  of  scripture 
on  our  side  of  the  question,  and  all  our  arguments  drawn 
from  it ;  yet  there  arc  some  of  the  reasoners  and  the 
disputers  of  this  world,  wlio  will  still  suppose  that  it  is 
more  for  the  honor  of  God,  and  for  the  glory  of  our 
blessed  Saviour,  for  ministers  to  dwell  always  upon  the 
promises  of  the  new  covenant,  and  the  riches  of  the 
grace  of  Christ,  and  the  overflowing  measures  of  the 
love  of  God,  in  order  to  save  sinful  men.  '•^  Surely  say 
they,  preachers  have  tried  long  enough  what  tlie  words 
of  terror  will  do  ;  let  us  now  allure  sinful  men  to  be  re- 
conciled to  God  by  a  ministry  of  universal  love  and 
grace  ;  and  let  us  see  whether  the  boundless  compas- 
sions of  a  God,  in  putting  a  final  period  to  the  miseries 
of  his  guilty  creatures  after  a  certain  number  of  years, 
will  not  draw  sinners  with  a  sweeter  violence  to  the  love 
and  obedience  of  their  Maker,  than  all  this  doctrine  of 
severity  and  terror.'" 

In  the  first  place,  1  answer,  that  surel}^  Jesus  liimself 
who  is  the  prime  minister  of  his  Fatlier's  kingdom,  and 
the  divinest  messenger  of  his  love,  knew  better  than  we 
do  how  to  pay  the  highest  honor  to  his  heavenly  Father, 
and  to  display  his  own  grace.  Surely  he  vras  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  best  v,  ay  to  begin  with  sinners,  in  or- 
der to  their  reconciliation  to  God,  and  knew  also  the  most 
effectual  avenues  to  the  consciences  of  sinful  creatures, 
incomparably  beyond  what  any  of  us  can  pretend  to. 
Had  lie  not  as  tender  a  sense  of  the  honor  of  his  Father's 
mercy,  as  warm  a  zeal  for  the  glory  of  his  own  grace 
and  gospel,  and  as  wise  and  melting  a  compassion  for 
the  souls  of  men  as  the  best  of  us  can  boast  of?  And 
yet  he  thought  it  proper  to  lay  the  foundation  of  his  own 
and  his  apostles  ministrations  of  grace,  in  this  language 
of  terror,  in  tliese  threatenings  of  eternal  punishment. 
And  in  tbe  course  of  his  providence  throngliout  all  ages 


PUNISH^IENTS  OF  HELL.  455 

Jie  has,  iu  some  measure,  made  this  doctrine  successful 
to  recover  souls  from  the  snares  of  the  devil,  and  to  en- 
large his  own  lieavenly  kingdom. 

Bat  I  answer  further,  it  must  be  granted  that  the  tem- 
pers of  men  are  various,  and  it  is  possible  tltat  some 
may  be  of  so  ingenuous  and  refined  a  disposition,  that 
the  words  of  love  and  grace,  without  any  terror,  miglit 
reach  their  hearts,  and  through  the  influences  of  heaven, 
touch  them  eifectually.  But  as  for  tlic  bulk  of  mankind, 
while  they  continue  in  their  sins,  daily  experience  con- 
vinceth  us,  that  they  are  best  awakened  by  the  terrors 
of  the  Lord,  by  a  representation  of  the  gnawing  icorm 
ttihich  never  dies,  and  i\\Q  fire  lahich  shall  not  be  quench- 
ed. I  never  knew  but  one  person  in  the  whole  course 
of  my  ministry,  who  acknowledged  that  the  first  motions 
of  religion  in  their  own  heart  arose  from  a  sense  of  the 
goodness  of  God,  and  that  they  were  gently  and  sv/eetly 
led  at  first  to  this  enquiry.  What  shall  I  render  to  the 
Lord  icho  hath  dealt  so  hountifidhj  ivith  me  9  But  I  think 
all  besides,  who  have  come  within  my  notice,  have  rather 
been  first  awakened,  by  the  passion  of  fear,  to  fly  from 
the  wrath  to  come. 

If,  therefore,  we  will  practice,  according  to  the  ex- 
ample of  Jesus,  the  greatest  and  the  wisest  prophet  of 
his  church,  and  his  holy  apostles,  and  the  best  of  preach- 
ers in  all  ages  who  have  followed  him,  if  we  would  obey 
the  dictates  of  long  experience,  and  our  best  observation 
on  the  methods  of  converting  grace,  I  think  we  must 
proceed  to  denounce  these  eternal  terrors  of  the  Lord 
against  the  transgressors  of  his  law,  and  the  despisers  of 
his  gospel.  This  seems  to  be  the  appointed  and  most  ef- 
fectual way  to  rouse  their  consciences  to  seek  a  deliver- 
ance from  the  curses  of  the  law,  which  carry  in  them 
everlasting  punishment.  This  appears  to  be  the  first 
spring  of  religion  in  sinful  men,  and  the  first  motive  to 


456  THE  ETERNAL  DURATION,  &c, 

receive  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  w  hich  are  displayed 
in  the  New  Testament.  This  spurs  on  their  passions 
to  escape  the  vengeance  of  God,  by  flying  to  his  gospel, 
where  there  is  rich  and  abundant  grace  to  encourage 
the  hope  of  rebellious  creatures  in  their  returns  to  God 
by  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour.  To  Jesus,  who  is  the 
awful  messenger  of  his  Father's  terrors,  and  the  prime 
minister  of  his  love,  be  glory  and  honor  to  everlasting 
ages.    Amen. 


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